New Delhi, Sep 30 : Under the initiative of Atmanirbhar Bharat, the Indian Army signed the eight procurement contracts through Innovations for Defence Excellence (iDEX) on Monday.



According to the Ministry of Defence, QuNu Labs had proposed a 200 km single-hop Quantum key distribution in Open Challenge 2.0 under iDEX. It will replace the algorithm-based encryption systems thus enabling greater security and also optimising manpower commitment.



The contract for procurement of 'Generation of Quantum Secure Key (quantum key distribution)' was signed with M/s QuNu Labs. This contract was signed, in the presence of Lieutenant General NC Raja Subramani, Vice Chief of The Army Staff at South Block, New Delhi.



MoD Informed that the iDEX was launched by the Prime Minister on 12 April 2018 during Defence Expo India 2018. The aim of iDEX is to create an eco-system to foster innovations and encourage technological development in Defence and Aerospace by engaging Research and Development (R&D) Institutes, Academia, and Industries including MSMEs, Start-Ups, and individual innovators.



It also provides them with funding and other support to carry out R&D which has good potential for future adoption by the Indian Defence and Aerospace Organisation.



iDEX under the Defence Innovation Organisation has emerged as a front-runner in establishing the right kind of contact with Startups and Innovators and has gained substantial traction in the Defence Startup Community.



At present, there are a total of 74 Projects of IA under iDEX including as part of Acing Devp of Innovation Tech with iDEX (ADITI), Defence India Startup Challenge (DISC) & Open Challenge schemes. It involves the handholding of 77 Startups for the development of the latest state-of-the-art solutions for the Indian Army. Indian Army is already carrying out field exploitation of the four delivered equipment from various iDEX schemes.



Based on the results of the field exploitation further Spiral Development of the innovative technology will be progressed with the Startups, MoD officials added.



/IANS