1,000 Drones At Beating Retreat Ceremony To Mark 75 Years Of Independence

The annual Beating the Retreat ceremony, which takes place every year in Delhi on January 29, will have a show of nearly 1,000 drones by an IIT-Delhi-based startup to commemorate 75 years of the country's Independence, senior officials of the defence ministry said today.

There will be a laser projection mapping show on the parapet of the North Block and the South Block, they added. This is the first time that the Beating the Retreat ceremony will have laser and drone shows, the officials said.

Botlab, a startup based from IIT-Delhi, will put up the drone show with nearly 1,000 aerial crafts, the officials said. It will be themed on 75 years of Independence.

India will be the fourth country to conduct a drone show of this size that has been designed and conceptualised indigenously, the officials said.

China, Russia, and the United States are the three other countries that can put up a drone show of this size, they added.

The Beating the Retreat ceremony marks a centuries-old military tradition, dating back to the days when troops disengaged from a battle at sunset. As soon as the buglers sounded the "retreat", troops ceased fighting, sheathed their arms and withdrew from the battlefield.