Survey of India Orders ideaForge's Q6 V2 Drones for National Mapping Work
ideaForge has won an order from the Survey of India for its DGCA-certified Q6 V2 survey drones, which will collect aerial and geospatial data. The deal adds to the drone maker's push into civil government work beyond defence.
India's national mapping agency is buying Indian-made drones. On 13 October, Mumbai-based ideaForge Technology said the Survey of India had ordered its Q6 V2 unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) for surveying and mapping work. Neither the value nor the number of drones was disclosed.
The order
According to the company's announcement, carried by sUAS News, Raksha Anirveda and market news services, the Q6 V2 drones will collect aerial and geospatial data for the Survey of India's mapping programmes. Investors liked it: ideaForge shares touched a day high of ₹774 on 13 October, Sahi reported.
The Survey of India, founded in 1767, is the country's oldest scientific department and its national mapping agency. It now works under the Department of Science and Technology. Over the past few years, it has moved from ground surveys towards drone-based mapping at large scale. ideaForge says its drones have already been used under the SVAMITVA scheme, which uses drone surveys to map inhabited rural land and give property owners formal records.
The drone
The Q6 V2 is a survey-grade quadcopter built to cover large areas. In its announcement, ideaForge lists an endurance of 60 minutes, an operating range of 5 km and a maximum take-off weight of 6 kg. It can carry daylight, thermal, mapping and multispectral payloads. Earlier spec sheets reported by DRONELIFE and retail listings quoted up to 72 minutes of endurance and a shorter visual-line-of-sight range, so the figures depend on configuration and payload. A newer Q6 V3 version, aimed at public-safety users, has since been launched with US distributor Drone Nerds, but the Survey of India order is for the certified V2. The drone received type certification from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) in 2024. That certificate is required for government buyers and for commercial operation in Indian airspace.
Why it matters for ideaForge
ideaForge is best known as a supplier of surveillance drones to the Indian armed forces and paramilitary forces. That business has brought large orders, but also the lumpy revenue that comes with defence procurement cycles. Civil government work such as mapping, agriculture, mining surveys and disaster management offers a steadier pipeline, and the company has been pushing to grow it.
A national buyer like the Survey of India is also a strong reference. Mapping-grade work demands accurate positioning, consistent image overlap and reliable flight over large areas. Those requirements test a drone's flight controller and navigation stack as much as its airframe, and passing them makes it easier to sell to state governments and private survey firms.
The bigger picture
India's drone policy since 2021 has aimed to build a domestic industry by combining easier rules with procurement. The rules cover licensing, airspace maps and type certification. The procurement includes government programmes that buy Indian drones for mapping, farm spraying and logistics, along with an import ban on foreign drones. Survey and mapping has been one of the clearest successes. SVAMITVA alone created large-scale demand for survey drones and trained operators across the country.
The Survey of India order shows that model at work: a government science agency buying a domestically designed, DGCA-certified platform for core national infrastructure work. Accurate base maps underpin land records, urban planning, road and rail alignment and flood modelling, so the data these drones collect will be used well beyond the agency itself.
ideaForge also has the balance sheet to chase this market: it raised ₹500 crore through a qualified institutional placement, which gives it room to invest in product development and in support across the country. Field support matters to government buyers, who need drones kept flying through long survey seasons.
What is missing is scale. Without an order value or unit count, it is hard to judge how much the deal adds to ideaForge's revenue. The company's next quarterly results should show whether civil orders like this one are growing as a share of its business.
Sources
- https://www.suasnews.com/2026/10/ideaforge-secures-orders-from-survey-of-india-for-q6-v2-uavs-to-support-mapping-and-geospatial-applications/
- https://raksha-anirveda.com/ideaforge-secures-orders-from-survey-of-india-for-q6-v2-uavs-to-support-mapping-and-geospatial-applications/
- https://www.sahi.com/news/ideaforge-technology-gets-order-from-survey-of-india-for-q6-v2-drones
- https://lifeofsoldiers.com/2026/10/13/ideaforge-secures-orders-from-survey-of-india-for-q6-v2-uavs
- https://dronelife.com/2024/08/21/ideaforges-q6-v2-receives-dgca-certification-enhancing-uav-capabilities/