Navy's Drishti-10 UAV crashes near Gujarat’s Porbandar; inquiry ordered

An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) of the Indian Navy crashed into an open field at Dharampur village during a training sortie shortly after taking off from an air enclave, near Porbandar, Gujarat, Wednesday, on July 8, 2026. | The inquiry will determine whether the crash was caused by a technical malfunction, loss of the communication link or any other system failure.The UAV crashed in an open area near the Porbandar airfield, with no casualties or damage to property reported. In a statement posted on X, the Navy said the UAV crashed during a training flight near the Porbandar airfield and that there were no reports of injuries or casualties on the ground. It added that the cause of the incident was under investigation.Security agencies recovered the wreckage from the crash site and have begun a technical examination.Defence sources indicated that the aircraft may have suffered a technical malfunction, though the exact cause will be established only after the inquiry.The Drishti-10 is the Indianised version of Israel’s battle-proven Hermes-900 Medium Altitude Long Endurance (MALE) UAV. It is licence-manufactured by Adani Defence and Aerospace at its Hyderabad facility in partnership with Israel’s Elbit Systems.Incident expected to renew scrutiny of Drishti-10 platform’s reliabilityThe mishap is the second involving the Hermes-900-based platform acquired under the emergency procurement route in about 18 months.In January last year, a Drishti-10 being flown by the manufacturer during pre-acceptance trials ditched into the Arabian Sea after reportedly losing its communication link before formal induction into naval service. The aircraft was subsequently replaced by the manufacturer.The Army and the Navy contracted two Drishti-10 drones each under the fourth tranche of emergency procurements in 2023 at a cost of around ₹140 crore per aircraft.Designed for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) missions, the platform has an endurance of up to 36 hours, a payload capacity of 450 kg and an operating ceiling of 30,000 feet.The second crash is expected to renew scrutiny of the platform’s reliability as the Navy is pursuing a proposal to induct 10 more Drishti-10 drones to strengthen persistent surveillance over the Indian Ocean Region, where Chinese naval and survey vessels maintain an expanding presence, defence sources said.The Hermes-900 platform has also drawn attention internationally following reports during the recent Israel-Iran conflict that Iranian forces were able to bring down or force the crash-landing of Hermes-900 UAVs. Published - July 09, 2026 03:27 pm IST