As ‘kamikaze’ and armed drones become the new buzzwords after the Azerbaijan-Armenia conflict showed their deadly potency, an Indian firm based in Kanpur has managed to get a foothold in this sector.
Ninety per cent of the composite structures (fuselage, wing, tail) of armed drones and loitering munition (also known as kamikaze drones) — being assembled by a leading Israeli aerospace firm — are now being made at a manufacturing plant of Lohia Aerospace Systems, part of the Lohia Group, in Kanpur. The Kanpur facility manufactures the carbon composite fuselage and wings of a number of Israeli armed drones and loitering munition.
The Lohia Group had in 2019 acquired an Israeli company called Light and Strong Ltd, which specialises in production of aerospace and military carbon-fibre and glass-fibre composite components.
The Israeli company was already a sub-vendor for multiple Israeli firms in supply of carbon structures that form the mainframe of multiple products, including drones that are exported globally.
The Lohia Group had simultaneously set up a manufacturing plant in the UP Defence Corridor (special zones for defence manufacturing firms), which is now making these structures for the Israeli original equipment manufacturer.
Through its Israeli entity, the Lohia Group has entered the lucrative market of cargo conversion, under which passenger aircraft are converted into cargo planes for various companies.
Light & Strong is the single source supplier to one of the largest Israeli firms in cargo conversion.
While initially only a handful of companies used to do cargo conversion, given the high demand and profitability, even aircraft manufacturers are getting into this business big time.
