Small Indian firm gets first order for product created under iDEX

By Ajai Shukla

Business Standard, 16th Mar 23
 
Given its arsenal of about 5,000 tanks, 3,000 infantry combat vehicles, 4,000 artillery guns and rocket launchers and over 12,000 trucks, the Indian Army is one of the world’s biggest customers for “Integrated Mobile Camouflage Solutions” (IMCS), to hide all these vehicles.
 
The first inroad into this billion dollar market has been made by an Indian defence start-up, Hyper Stealth Technologies Private Limited (HSTPL). The firm announced on Wednesday that is has won an order for IMCS,  becoming the first winner of the defence ministry’s “Innovations for Defence Excellence” (iDEX) programme to receive an order from the Indian armed forces. 
 
The company, which specialises in manufacturing stealth management solutions had earlier bagged the iDEX start-up challenge award for “adaptive stealth coating solutions.”
 
Along with artificial intelligence (AI), quantum computing and machine learning, stealth technologies are regarded as the battle-winning element in futuristic battlefields.
 
The technology that HSTPL is offering for incorporation in new product is estimated to reduce the detection range of modern sensors (infra-red, thermal and radar) by 50 per cent. The additional protection offerred to armed forces platforms and service personnel greatly increase chances of survival.
 
The same technology can be used in all three services: For Indian Air Force (IAF) aircraft, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and aircraft shelters;stealth warships and submarine periscopes for the Navy; and tanks, armoured vehicles, artillery guns, rocket launchers and bunkers etc for the Army.

“We are extremely honoured to receive the first order in the history of iDEX. Following our Prime Minister’s dream of ‘Atamanirbhar Bharat’, we offer a 100 per cent indigenously designed, developed and manufactured (IDDM), Made in India stealth solution for our armed forces,” said Manish Dalmmia, co-founder of HSTPL. 
 
“To beat the challenge of being detected through sensors, Hyper Stealth worked on the development, design and manufacture of stealth solutions to protect our armed forces for a multitude of threats and challenges in the modern war scenario.” “Unseen is unbeaten - you can’t hit something you can’t see,” he added. 
 
HSTPL was founded in 2016 with its headquarters in New Delhi. Besides manufacturing multi-spectral camouflage nets and tents, its product portfolio includes adaptive thermal signature management paints, radar and infra-red camouflaging paint. HSTPL’s fundamental aim is to achieve “perfect signature management”, so that our own force’s assets are unidentifiable by all modern surveillance and identification systems.