The Technology Development Board (TDB), under the Department of Science & Technology, Government of India, has signed a ₹151 crore agreement with ideaForge Technology Limited for Research Development and Innovation (RDI) Fund support to develop YETI, a heavy-lift autonomous aerial logistics vehicle. The total project cost is ₹302 crore, with funding provided through debt financing to advance the technology from Technology Readiness Level (TRL)-4 to TRL-9.
YETI is an autonomous vertical take-off and landing, fixed-wing hybrid unmanned aerial vehicle (VTOL-FW UAV) designed to transport heavy payloads of up to 200 kg over distances of 200 km, operating at altitudes up to 6,500 metres above mean sea level. The vehicle features weather-resistant design for challenging environments including high-altitude regions, deserts, and marine conditions, and can operate from small unprepared landing areas measuring approximately 15 metres × 15 metres.
Key technical capabilities include distributed and redundant propulsion and power architecture for improved fault tolerance, GNSS-denied navigation, communication links up to 200 km, swarm operations, and containerised transportation for rapid deployment. The platform is intended to address logistics requirements in areas where conventional transportation is difficult, time-consuming, or operationally constrained.
The project falls under the Deep Technology sector with Intelligent Systems and Robotics as the sub-sector, reflecting the growing importance of indigenous autonomous systems integrating aerospace engineering, propulsion, navigation, communications, and intelligent control. TDB Secretary Shri Rajesh Kumar Pathak emphasized that indigenous heavy-lift aerial platforms can improve access to remote locations, while ideaForge's CEO stated YETI represents a generational leap in India's autonomous capabilities for military and logistics applications in tough operational environments.