The unique feature of the project is a highly effective industry-academia collaboration and partnership between Lockheed Martin and Delhi Technological University, right from concept to design and till the realisation of project objectives

A prototype of an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) developed by a team of students of Delhi Technological University (DTU), erstwhile Delhi College of Engineering, was displayed at the ICAUV 2012 conference held at the Eagleton Golf Resort on the outskirts of Bangalore on February 24 and 25 this year. The UAV prototype was on display at the exhibition and was backed up by a video of their first flight test in January this year.

The team of students from DTU won the top honours in a competition to design a small UAV against teams from universities such as MIT and Stanford, in a US-based contest conducted by the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International. Impressed by the talent displayed by the group of engineering undergraduates, in 2009, the US aerospace major Lockheed Martin Corporation initiated a project with DTU to develop a new generation machine that would have civilian and military applications. The team was guided by John Sheehan, Senior Systems Engineer at Lockheed Martin Aeronautics and Project Manager for urban UAS project and Dr Peter Drewes, Business Innovation Manager, Autonomous Systems, Lockheed Martin.

Lockheed Martin Corporation (LMC) is engaged in research, design, development, manufacture, integration and sustainment of advanced technology systems, products and services. Lockheed Martin Corporate Engineering and Technology Organisation undertook the responsibility to provide the student group with LMC-generated design to structure their efforts, technical supervision, guidance in project management and funding for the two-year research project. The team was required to prepare its own design and then develop a flying prototype. For the students of DTU, it was a propitious opportunity especially after an indifferent and bureaucratic response from the Indian Defence Research and Development Organisation as well as from some private entities. What inspired LMC to step into the project was aptly summed up by Ray O. Johnson, Senior Vice President and Chief Technology Officer, LMC, when he stated that the group of undergraduate students who had worked on a technology that was not even a part of the curriculum in their institution.