AI Headlines LogoAI Headlines

Industry News | 8/27/2025

DGCA certifies ideaForge SWITCH drone for civil and security use

India's ideaForge SWITCH UAV has earned DGCA Type Certification, enabling civil, paramilitary, and police use alongside defense operations. The approval, aligned with Drone Rules 2021, broadens its deployment across infrastructure monitoring, security, and enterprise sectors. The hybrid VTOL-fixed-wing drone promises long endurance and sophisticated imaging for diverse missions.

Overview

India’s drone ecosystem just took a meaningful step forward. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has issued Type Certification for ideaForge’s SWITCH unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). It’s not just a green light for a single model; it’s a signal that a government-approved path exists for dual-use platforms to operate across civil, security, and commercial contexts. The certification is framed within India’s Drone Rules 2021 and the Digital Sky platform, underscoring safety, reliability, and airworthiness as the baseline for more widespread deployment.

Think of this as a bridge between rugged defense-grade capability and everyday uses like infrastructure inspection or disaster response. SWITCH has already proven its mettle in counter-insurgency and counter-terrorism missions with Indian defense forces, and certification now opens the door for similar performance in civilian settings.

What SWITCH Is

  • Hybrid VTOL and fixed-wing design: SWITCH blends vertical takeoff and landing with the efficiency of a fixed-wing aircraft, enabling operations in confined spaces and long-range missions. This is not your classic quadcopter; it’s a hybrid that can soar farther and stay aloft longer.
  • All-terrain ISR platform: Built to operate at high altitudes and in challenging environments, SWITCH emphasizes endurance and reliability.
  • Carbon fiber frame: A light yet sturdy structure contributes to payload capacity and resilience in demanding conditions.
  • Payload versatility: Swappable day and night cameras, including a 25x HD optical zoom and a thermal camera, support surveillance and data collection in varying light and weather.
  • Ground control and autonomy: The BlueFire Touch Ground Control Station supports mission planning, autonomous flight, and real-time data analysis, reducing manual workloads during critical operations.

Key specs (as demonstrated in trials and user feedback):

  • Flight time: over 120 minutes
  • Range: up to 15 kilometers
  • Payload: swappable cameras, including thermal imaging
  • Assembly: tool-free, snap-fit design for rapid deployment

Certification Path and Regulatory Context

The DGCA Type Certification is a milestone not only for ideaForge but for India’s broader drone ecosystem. Certification under Drone Rules 2021 involves a comprehensive evaluation of design, manufacturing process, and performance, conducted via the Digital Sky platform. It’s designed to ensure airworthiness and safety of drones operating in civilian airspace and over populated areas.

  • The regulatory framework was created to encourage innovation while keeping national security and public safety at the forefront. Certification signals confidence that dual-use drones like SWITCH can be integrated into civilian airspace without compromising safety.
  • ideaForge has positioned itself as a pioneer in the Indian UAV market, with a vertically integrated operation that covers design, development, and manufacturing in-house. The DGCA certification thus validates both product quality and manufacturing discipline, and it may help accelerate domestic adoption across multiple sectors.

Related regulatory and market context

Design and Capabilities in Detail

ideaForge describes SWITCH as an indigenous system aimed at high-altitude, all-terrain ISR missions. The craft’s carbon fiber frame keeps it light while maintaining rigidity under sun, wind, or cold. In field tests, engineers highlighted how the snap-fit assembly enables teams to go from transport to takeoff in minutes—a practical advantage for disaster response or rapid infrastructure assessment after a storm.

  • The endurance edge is real: 2+ hours of flight time translates into broader area coverage per sortie, reducing the need for frequent landings to refuel or retrieve data. In security operations, that can mean longer surveillance windows during sensitive events or larger tracts of border areas monitored in a single flight.
  • Imaging capabilities are the heart of modern ISR. SWITCH’s swappable optics include a high-zoom daylight camera and a thermal camera, allowing operators to switch from identifying structural anomalies to spotting heat signatures at night or through smoke and dust. Real-time data processing further empowers decision-makers on the ground.
  • The BlueFire Ground Control Station supports autonomous flight planning, custom map integrations, and live analytics. In practice, that means an operations room can push a mission plan to the drone, watch it execute, and receive stitched maps and analytics in near real time—critical in fast-moving incidents or large-scale audits of critical infrastructure.

Operational Implications Across Sectors

The certification unlocks a wide range of potential applications, spanning law enforcement, disaster response, infrastructure monitoring, and environmental research.

  • Security and law enforcement: Police and paramilitary units can leverage SWITCH for anti-terror operations, crowd management, border surveillance, and crime scene overview tasks. The ability to stay aloft for extended periods while delivering high-quality imagery can help responders operate more effectively during critical incidents.
  • Civil and enterprise: Utilities, pipelines, mining, and agriculture stand to gain from long-endurance surveillance, risk mapping, and precision data collection. Large-scale infrastructure projects—whether pipelines, power lines, or rail corridors—require periodic inspections, where a reliable ISR platform can reduce downtime and increase safety.
  • Disaster management and environmental science: The combination of day/night cameras and thermal imaging is well-suited for wildfire monitoring, flood mapping, wildfire detection, and habitat surveys. In emergencies, the ability to rapidly deploy a robust drone with autonomous flight saves time and helps coordinate first responders.

Policy direction and government initiatives reinforce this momentum. India’s stated goal of becoming a global drone hub by 2030, aided by the Production-Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme, provides a favorable backdrop for companies like ideaForge to scale domestically and potentially export dual-use platforms. Certification of SWITCH aligns with this broader push toward indigenous manufacturing and AI-enabled drone capabilities across sectors.

Why This Matters for India’s Drone Ecosystem

  • Domestic manufacturing validation: A Type Certification confirms that India can produce airworthy, reliable dual-use drones without relying exclusively on imports. That’s a meaningful signal to investors, customers, and regulators alike.
  • Market expansion within India: With civil and security sectors opening up to advanced UAVs, SWITCH can address a broader set of use cases—from smart cities to critical infrastructure defense and monitoring, supported by a robust regulatory framework.
  • AI-powered drone adoption: As sensors, cameras, and processing capabilities improve, the role of AI in autonomous planning, anomaly detection, and real-time decision support grows. The SWITCH platform is positioned to benefit from that trajectory as more data accumulates from civilian deployments and security missions.

Looking Ahead

The DGCA certification marks a pivotal moment for India’s domestic drone manufacturing industry. It signals a maturation of the regulatory environment and a growing willingness among public and private actors to embrace higher-performance UAVs for dual-use applications. For ideaForge, the certification validates its technology and opens new avenues for growth beyond its established defense clientele.

More broadly, as platforms like SWITCH become more common in civilian contexts, the adoption of AI-powered drone solutions across critical infrastructure, public safety, and environmental monitoring could accelerate. A more capable drone ecosystem can boost efficiency, improve safety, and enhance situational awareness in sometimes chaotic or high-stakes environments. As India continues refining its regulatory landscape to support indigenous manufacturing, gates opened by certifications like SWITCH will be instrumental in driving innovation and helping realize India’s ambition to become a dominant global drone player.

Sources and context

  • https://vertexaisearch.cloud.google.com/grounding-api-redirect/AUZIYQHOGbA_EBpdHTRq6uR7vYH6MVsRP5fBDPXzDe2TxgOsoxTX4u4p_82Zj_UBFmlKnfB7vQczBRCMaBvc1LcTlqzgqgHmTDjjamBDDxoSK5qGV2jPNbGxbHyYjLlOoo72IaMdiwnDRF3XDh4voVZHMWxA3e38ONdCYpblfP0W95X5si8X0sf8BMoQ4TDCW5RuErA_ic1G-M5VIaWY3KYevGqOA3YTGdxlqAC-n-nBgF3tJw==
  • https://vertexaisearch.cloud.google.com/grounding-api-redirect/AUZIYQF4YbC7HwdIhkCSRXhT0-abjJ5TOjZSAqbc8YT9uXo09IoZk9rRRguyu7IXkFbzxLDpGV5C-Meu8y_MyGfeIMCFJct9_ioXd8bGl4P33G1NjbfkAs5t2JWyMnVdUtvUc8q0lt2YSCifRiAOUi3_4WzFgxu-MqVlHWX5ruwUB2e7apfpdNMPKgtRnuFvX-H8Fw==
  • https://vertexaisearch.cloud.google.com/grounding-api-redirect/AUZIYQEwKEQL2HyJT7ofpmq9wwnCARvB22VV9Wr93mVC9sBLkTt0xpOJaNcNrasw4mN7WwMe4hnqiT1mkjnkUQUKJ_uLDRkKSpmQkY-uvbo-Z82pPMIAULAzzLss0iK7B_1uJO4jJA==
  • https://vertexaisearch.cloud.google.com/grounding-api-redirect/AUZIYQFoXOCeQF2f958KyDQLCXtH3J4_UHbTIGHlMyHbscaxEu-j-AWiq7qciA6U-Ec0Qx_mnTvnejWrZ3WCzHFdGbegmQQ_PrJuZWqNfPlIqC2f0zLmNVVkH_-E-XgrZDhRxCmnkcSU-ZN8BARdKf-FnrgL3s_NiA==
  • https://vertexaisearch.cloud.google.com/grounding-api-redirect/AUZIYQHtZx1lfdCE-k_rLL0PUHQiwG98mInILOK2SAS-WV1J77Sm2INQeeop0j8kAT5HsjfLO8tRiWB5V4BtpdIAxVqmcf5Pmh7jk0HaetZ9KMXv5_CxsB8WQYZ2FCEAwBGKsW3g7ibQvTH3-8UCXhbxYVcXQvuvrV90tPjZaCGMY6jqSxhaUrN2-XjW
  • https://vertexaisearch.cloud.google.com/grounding-api-redirect/AUZIYQHnDPNVV77o87GRFd5qghJV7C1IAPRTK1wKf3FK-JPLlwB5NKfyogRjppLewPWDRVtcwcjD0ktjGT6t871TkglkYnB3kPirQDHzbKmRbl6A91jaDEbOH-gUmDqrsETjqFrb6qfWg6kE5hDX-hVqXY6Pq3YjRe7bjFWeM8I-3wmzV3m9p-8f8TdTPAjP9g==
  • https://vertexaisearch.cloud.google.com/grounding-api-redirect/AUZIYQGlaSuWldKOXgbSD84yMrZBhU8yTy-q2gUEHFAh20LNYZZxUcCMXSU0NLLGx_1nBHUH6Aykb_V2PY8ZMqHXBtYy87lA_f-8HOpbvRWYXk0OzdZKHdAMifHULCiGo8DK53J93ZBilt_g-zywQFahhGSyAgWjot_6SUUCp-wVccqt2syI4OrwZ9O2e_Ou
  • https://vertexaisearch.cloud.google.com/grounding-api-redirect/AUZIYQERBFSEaydr5t8LPYku08oomhmkXzEeqMPe4pQlmj0hgte0G7aoUgX-cE1tEJcnhnIP2_GHsFtgSaZq5qjbYhQgXpoUsubIc7nOhT6eh4-7-hN11-wYYZjMfOBo5sP3RHhkrKngEINEr_T5EYlgYvYOCm6vz4MmkhnlaN5OUhNvxGi04mt74gfjGMGsFRQo5R3e25-eLkqEc4QtwHjcKpwz79fYKYJ7UajmI2ITJJr84uuv6TBLl3DImcwas-nNrWkUfWO4dj5l5eZpgwsbB2UrNLwwgJii
  • https://vertexaisearch.cloud.google.com/grounding-api-redirect/AUZIYQHtZx1lfdCE-k_rLL0PUHQiwG98mInILOK2SAS-WV1J77Sm2INQeeop0j8kAT5HsjfLO8tRiWB5V4BtpdIAxVqmcf5Pmh7jk0HaetZ9KMXv5_CxsB8WQYZ2FCEAwBGKsW3g7ibQvTH3-8UCXhbxYVcXQvuvrV90tPjZaCGMY6jqSxhaUrN2-XjW
  • https://vertexaisearch.cloud.google.com/grounding-api-redirect/AUZIYQHnDPNVV77o87GRFd5qghJV7C1IAPRTK1wKf3FK-JPLlwB5NKfyogRjppLewPWDRVtcwcjD0ktjGT6t871TkglkYnB3kPirQDHzbKmRbl6A91jaDEbOH-gUmDqrsETjqFrb6qfWg6kE5hDX-hVqXY6Pq3YjRe7bjFWeM8I-3wmzV3m9p-8f8TdTPAjP9g==,
  • https://vertexaisearch.cloud.google.com/grounding-api-redirect/AUZIYQGlaSuWldKOXgbSD84yMrZBhU8yTy-q2gUEHFAh20LNYZZxUcCMXSU0NLLGx_1nBHUH6Aykb_V2PY8ZMqHXBtYy87lA_f-8HOpbvRWYXk0OzdZKHdAMifHULCiGo8DK53J93ZBilt_g-zywQFahhGSyAgWjot_6SUUCp-wVccqt2syI4OrwZ9O2e_Ou
  • https://vertexaisearch.cloud.google.com/grounding-api-redirect/AUZIYQERBFSEaydr5t8LPYku08oomhmkXzEeqMPe4pQlmj0hgte0G7aoUgX-cE1tEJcnhnIP2_GHsFtgSaZq5qjbYhQgXpoUsubIc7nOhT6eh4-7-hN11-wYYZjMfOBo5sP3RHhkrKngEINEr_T5EYlgYvYOCm6vz4MmkhnlaN5OUhNvxGi04mt74gfjGMGsFRQo5R3e25-eLkqEc4QtwHjcKpwz79fYKYJ7UajmI2ITJJr84uuv6TBLl3DImcwas-nNrWkUfWO4dj5l5eZpgwsbB2UrNLwwgJii
Back to blog