The Indian Army signed the eighth procurement contract through the government’s flagship initiative Innovations for Defence Excellence (iDEX) in New Delhi today. The Ministry of Defence said that the contract for procurement of Generation of Quantum Secure Key (Quantum Key Distribution) was signed with QuNu Labs in the presence of Vice Chief of the Army Staff Lieutenant General NC Raja Subramani. This contract will replace the algorithm-based encryption systems thus enabling greater security and also optimising manpower commitment.

At present there is a total of 74 Projects of the Indian Army under iDEX including as part of Acing Development of Innovation Tech with iDEX (ADITI), Defence India Startup Challenge (DISC) and Open Challenge schemes which involve handholding of 77 Startups for the development of the latest state of art solutions for the Indian Army.

iDEX aimed to create an eco-system to foster innovations and encourage technological development in Defence and Aerospace by engaging Research and Development Institutes, Academia, and Industries including MSMEs, Start-Ups, and individual innovators.