DGVK and Sol.One Bring Belgian Armed Drone and Counter-UAS Systems to Indian Market

India’s rapidly expanding drone and counter-drone sector has gained another international technology partnership, with DGVK Enterprises Private Limited and Belgium’s Sol.One joining forces to introduce advanced unmanned strike and interceptor systems to the Indian market.

The agreement was exchanged in New Delhi on September 3, 2026, during the India-Belgium Defence CEOs Roundtable. The Ministry of Defence officially listed DGVK Enterprises and Sol1 BV among a series of Indian-Belgian industrial partnerships covering unmanned systems, ammunition, rockets, electro-optics and naval technologies.

The most prominent system associated with the partnership is Sol.One’s Saboteur, an armed long-range quadplane UAV designed for missions beyond the immediate frontline. Belgian-side reporting also identifies two lower-cost counter-drone systems, Buzzkill and Hitchhiker, as products being proposed for Indian requirements.

Saboteur Combines Vertical Take-Off With Fixed-Wing Range

Saboteur uses a quadplane configuration, combining vertical take-off and landing rotors with a fixed wing.

This gives the aircraft the ability to launch from locations without a runway while using wing-borne flight for longer-range missions. Sol.One states that the aircraft can operate at ranges of up to 400 km, allowing it to reach targets substantially beyond the immediate tactical battlefield.

Unlike a conventional loitering munition that is destroyed during an attack, Saboteur is designed to return after completing its mission. The reusable architecture allows the aircraft to be recovered, replenished and launched again.

That distinction makes Saboteur closer to an armed unmanned combat aircraft in a compact quadplane configuration than to a traditional expendable kamikaze drone.

Each Saboteur Carries a Thales 70-mm Rocket

The aircraft’s strike capability is built around a single Thales FZ 70-mm rocket.

Sol.One describes the UAV as being designed to attack military logistics and supply chains behind the frontline. The combination of a relatively long-range unmanned aircraft and compact rocket weapon is intended to allow targets to be attacked without sacrificing the entire air vehicle.

The weapon choice also creates an interesting connection with another India-Belgium defence agreement announced on the same day.

Kalyani Strategic Systems and Thales have separately agreed to establish Indian manufacturing capability for 70-mm unguided and laser-guided rockets. The presence of the same broad rocket family within Saboteur’s architecture could create potential industrial synergies as India develops a larger domestic ecosystem around 70-mm weapons.

No integration agreement linking the Kalyani-Thales production programme directly with the DGVK-Sol.One partnership has been announced.

Designed for Deep Battlefield Surveillance and Strike

Saboteur is equipped with an electro-optical payload incorporating 30× optical zoom and low-light imaging, allowing it to perform surveillance, target observation and post-strike damage assessment during the same sortie.

Sol.One says the aircraft can maintain video and mission-data functions in difficult communications environments through onboard storage and communications-management technologies.

This gives the platform a dual role. It can collect intelligence during its approach and then conduct a precision attack before remaining in the area long enough to evaluate the result.

Such a combination can reduce reliance on separate reconnaissance and strike platforms for selected tactical missions.

Swarming Architecture Could Allow Coordinated Attacks

Sol.One has also designed Saboteur around multi-aircraft operations.

The company says its command architecture can coordinate more than 200 drones, with artificial intelligence assisting operators in managing complex mission patterns. Multiple Saboteur aircraft could consequently approach a target area from different directions while sharing reconnaissance information.

The company also envisions a human remaining involved in targeting decisions, with additional operators able to join the mission-control network when target approval is required.

This type of distributed architecture reflects a broader evolution in unmanned warfare, where military effectiveness increasingly comes from coordinating large numbers of comparatively inexpensive aircraft rather than relying exclusively on individual high-value UAVs.

Containerised Deployment Reduces Infrastructure Requirements

The aircraft has also been designed around relatively simple deployment logistics.

Sol.One says 15 ready-to-launch Saboteur aircraft can be transported inside a standard 40-foot high-cube shipping container. This allows complete drone detachments to be moved using conventional commercial-style container transport rather than specialised aviation infrastructure.

For military users, containerisation can simplify storage, concealment and redeployment while allowing units to disperse their UAV assets rather than concentrating them at easily identifiable airfields.

Vertical take-off capability further reduces dependence on prepared runways.

Buzzkill and Hitchhiker Target the Counter-Drone Requirement

The other major component of the DGVK-Sol.One relationship is counter-UAS technology.

Belgian reporting on the agreement identifies Buzzkill and Hitchhiker as low-cost drone interceptors being offered alongside Saboteur. Indian armed forces have reportedly requested information on the systems and expressed interest in conducting trials.

Detailed specifications for Buzzkill and Hitchhiker have not yet been published by Sol.One on its public product pages, so their exact range, propulsion, guidance method and engagement mechanism remain undisclosed.

Sol.One’s wider counter-UAS work, however, provides an indication of the company’s technological direction.

The Belgian company is developing systems that use interceptor drones to physically engage hostile UAVs, with particular emphasis on countering large numbers of small drones and swarms.

Sol.One Is Developing a Layered Drone-Interception Architecture

Sol.One leads Belgium’s RAVN — Rapid Aerial Vehicle Neutralisation programme, a layered counter-UAS research effort designed to protect military bases, airports and other critical infrastructure.

RAVN combines a non-rotating AESA radar, electro-optical computer vision, resilient communications, airborne mothership drones and small interceptor UAVs.

The system is designed to detect incoming drones at longer ranges before dispatching airborne assets towards the threat. Mothership drones then refine target information and release smaller interceptors against hostile aircraft.

Sol.One says the micro-interceptors use visual, inertial and ultra-wideband guidance to home onto hostile UAVs and neutralise them through collision.

The concept is particularly relevant against drone swarms because multiple interceptors can be deployed simultaneously rather than forcing an air-defence system to engage targets sequentially.

Counter-Drone Economics Are Becoming Increasingly Important

The attractiveness of small interceptor UAVs is partly economic.

Modern armed forces can use sophisticated surface-to-air missiles to destroy drones, but repeatedly employing expensive missiles against inexpensive unmanned aircraft creates an unfavourable cost exchange.

Interceptor drones offer another layer between electronic-warfare systems, guns and conventional air-defence missiles.

They are particularly suited to situations where jamming cannot be relied upon because the attacking drone operates autonomously, uses resistant communications or continues its mission after losing its data link.

A reusable or relatively inexpensive physical interceptor can therefore expand the number of engagement options available to air-defence commanders.

Indian Armed Forces Could Move to Trials

The DGVK-Sol.One agreement remains at the market-entry and evaluation stage rather than representing an Indian procurement contract.

Belgian-side reporting says the Indian Armed Forces have sought information about the systems and want to test them. Trials would allow the services to evaluate performance under Indian operating conditions before considering procurement.

No order quantity, contract value, trial schedule or Indian manufacturing percentage has been publicly announced.

That distinction is important because the September agreement establishes an industrial and commercial partnership, while military induction would require separate evaluation and procurement decisions.

Sol.One Is Expanding Drone Production in Belgium

The partnership comes while Sol.One itself is scaling its manufacturing infrastructure.

The company announced in August 2026 that it had begun fitting out a new 8,000-square-metre drone manufacturing facility near Ghent, with existing Saboteur production being transferred to the site. Sol.One says the factory is intended to support substantially higher production volumes.

The Belgian company develops both civilian and military unmanned aircraft in the 20-to-150-kg class and also produces avionics, flight-control equipment, data links and certified ground-control technology.

Its experience therefore extends beyond complete air vehicles into several of the core technologies required to control autonomous systems.

Another Dimension of India-Belgium Defence Cooperation

The DGVK-Sol.One pact formed part of a much wider defence-industrial push during the Belgian Prime Minister’s September visit.

Agreements announced alongside it included Kalyani Strategic Systems with Thales for 70-mm rocket production, Kalyani with FN Herstal on small arms and counter-UAS systems, L&T with Exail on maritime robotics, India Optel with OIP on electro-optics and Tembo Classic Engineering with Lachaussée on ammunition manufacturing.

India has specifically identified AI-enabled unmanned aerial systems, counter-drone technologies and other advanced weapon systems as promising areas for collaboration with Belgian industry.

The DGVK-Sol.One partnership fits directly into that strategy by addressing both sides of modern drone warfare: an armed long-range UAV capable of reconnaissance and precision attack, and interceptor systems intended to defeat hostile drones.

The immediate milestone will be the proposed evaluation of the systems by the Indian military. Successful trials would move the partnership from technology introduction towards a potential procurement and industrialisation programme, adding another supplier to India’s rapidly expanding ecosystem for unmanned strike and counter-UAS technologies.

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