July 24, 2025 - Two 20‑year‑old engineering students from BITS Pilani’s Hyderabad campus - Jayant Khatri and Sourya Choudhury - have designed and delivered indigenous Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) to multiple Indian Army units stationed in Jammu, Chandimandir (Haryana), Panagarh (West Bengal) and Arunachal Pradesh. Their flagship drone, built with off‑the‑shelf components and campus lab support, can reach speeds exceeding 300 km/hour, carry payloads up to 1 kg, evade radar detection and execute precision kamikaze strikes.

The deliveries were made under the firm Apollyon Dynamics, a defence startup, founded by  Khatri (Mechanical Engineering, Ajmer) and  Choudhury (Electronics Engineering, Kolkata), in May 2025. The two students developed high-speed, radar‑evading kamikaze drones inside their hostel room, specially focussing on designing and manufacturing UAVs tailored for India’s defence and surveillance needs.

Apollyon Dynamics was founded in April this year, born out of the duo’s shared passion for robotics and unmanned aerial systems. The venture gained momentum after the duo pitch-emailed Army officers via LinkedIn. According to Khatri, he started sending cold emails to Army contacts which finally led to a live demo in Chandigarh in late May. Impressed by the drones’ speed, manoeuvrability and rugged design, multiple Army divisions placed orders. This marked the formal launch of Apollyon Dynamics.

The duo’s rapid journey — from hostel lab prototypes to battlefield deployment — was backed by institutional support, mentorship from Prof. Sanket Goel , Dean of Research and Innovation, and facilities at the BITS Hyderabad campus.

Khatri and Choudhury have also developed a modular lineup that includes long‑range surveillance and trainer UAVs — enabling quick skill transfer to Army personnel, even to those without prior flight experience ensuring that they can become drone operations within a short time.

This milestone represents a significant step toward India’s strategic aim of reducing dependency on imported drone technology. 

Today, Apollyon Dynamics has demonstrated how student-driven innovation, aided by institutional support, can swiftly transition to real-world defence applications. The firm has now expanded into a six‑ to 10‑member student team and is currently actively working on next‑generation Vertical Take Off and Landing (VTOL) platforms and fixed-wing systems to further enhance mission versatility and operational effectiveness.

With Media Inputs