IAF Inducts Swadeshi Empresa's FF Bot, Making the iDEX Firefighting Robot a Tri-Service Product
The Indian Air Force has inducted the FF Bot, a remotely operated firefighting robot built by Ahmedabad start-up Swadeshi Empresa under iDEX, for fuel farms, hangars and ammunition areas. The Air Force joins the Navy and Army, which have already bought the robot.
Air bases burn in predictable places: fuel farms, hardened aircraft shelters, hangars and ammunition dumps. Those are also the places where sending a human crew close to the flames is most dangerous. The Indian Air Force (IAF) is now putting a home-built robot in front of its firefighters at exactly those sites. Reports published on 19 and 20 October say the IAF has inducted the FF Bot, a remotely operated firefighting robot made by Ahmedabad-based start-up Swadeshi Empresa under the Ministry of Defence's iDEX (Innovations for Defence Excellence) programme.
What has been reported
WION reported on 19 October that the IAF had turned to the home-grown robot, developed under iDEX. Outlook India reported that the IAF has received the FF Bot through the emergency procurement (EP) route opened after Operation Sindoor, and that the order itself, placed in October 2025, was for an undisclosed number of units.
Other outlets put a number on it. Defence trade publications Raksha Anirveda and idrw.org earlier reported that Swadeshi Empresa had won an IAF order for 80 FF Bots, and Whalesbook reported on 20 October that 80 robots have now been deployed at bases in Punjab, Rajasthan and Gujarat. The Ministry of Defence has not published a figure. So the order of 80 is well reported, while whether all 80 are already in service rests on one report.
The machine
The FF Bot is a compact, six-wheeled unmanned ground vehicle with suspension built for rough ground. An operator drives it from a safe distance, using optical and thermal cameras that stream live video. The thermal feed lets crews pick out hotspots and hidden flames through thick smoke. The robot sprays water or foam, can drag heavy hoses into position and can cool itself while it works close to the fire.
Reports describe it as a support tool, not a replacement for trained crews. The robot goes in first, close to burning fuel, aircraft or munitions, and the firefighters stay back.
Proven at Vayu Shakti
The IAF's interest firmed up during Exercise Vayu Shakti 2026 at the Pokhran ranges. There, the FF Bot was put through its paces, and reports say it passed field trials and beat the benchmarks set for base-level firefighting equipment. WION reported in April that the IAF was testing the robot partly because of what recent conflicts have shown about air bases. Fuel and munitions fires spread fast after a strike, and putting them out quickly decides how soon a base can launch aircraft again.
One robot, three services
The FF Bot was first built for the Indian Navy, which has taken 50 units, according to idrw.org. On 13 January 2026, the Army signed a ₹62-crore contract for 18 robots to protect ammunition depots and other high-risk sites. Coverage at the time called it the first time one service had bought an iDEX product that another service had already developed and tested. Army induction was scheduled to start in the first week of April.
The IAF is now the third service to take the robot. Outlook notes that Swadeshi Empresa was the first company to win a contract under iDEX. That makes it a useful test of whether the scheme can do more than fund prototypes, and whether a small company's product can be picked up across the armed forces.
Why it matters
India's defence start-up policy has long been criticised for producing demonstrations that never turn into orders. The FF Bot has followed a different path: an iDEX challenge, a Navy contract, an Army contract and now an Air Force induction. Each service's trials have strengthened the case for the next. The money involved is modest by defence standards, but the pattern is the one policymakers say they want.
There is also a wider robotics story. An Indian unmanned ground vehicle that the Navy, Army and Air Force all use gives Swadeshi Empresa a reference customer base for exports and for civilian buyers such as refineries, chemical plants, ports and airports, where the fire risks look much the same.
The next questions are practical ones: how the robots perform in day-to-day station use, how quickly the company can support a fleet spread across several states, and whether the IAF's order grows once the first units have proved themselves.
Sources
- https://www.wionews.com/india-news/indian-air-force-turns-to-homegrown-firefighting-robot-developed-under-idex-programme-1792417549444
- https://www.outlookindia.com/national/iaf-inducts-indigenous-firefighting-robot-ordered-under-emergency-procurement-after-operation-sindoor
- https://www.whalesbook.com/news/English/aerospace-defense/Indian-Air-Force-Inducts-80-Indigenous-Firefighting-Robots/6ad780bf79a16deaeaf7d583
- https://raksha-anirveda.com/iaf-orders-80-indigenous-firefighting-robots-developed-by-swadeshi-empresa/
- https://idrw.org/swadeshi-empresa-secures-iaf-order-for-indigenous-fire-fighting-bots-after-indian-navy-induction/
- https://wionews.com/india-news/iaf-tests-homegrown-firefighting-robot-amid-global-conflict-lessons-1775549971230
- https://wionews.com/india-news/indian-army-to-deploy-robotic-firefighters-at-ammunition-depots-1768939286594
- https://sundayguardianlive.com/news/when-fires-are-too-deadly-to-enter-iaf-is-sending-made-in-india-robots-in-first-308571/