The Defence Ministry is organising a Drone Olympics along with the Aero India air show in Bangalore seeking to encourage indigenous manufacturing of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) where both national and international players would showcase their capabilities.

"Drone Olympics would be open to both national and international players where they would be showcase their capabilities in surveillance, dropping of supplies and formation flying of drones," a Defence Ministry official said here.

The Drone Olympics will not only encourage manufacturing of drones in the country but will also provide an opportunity to armed forces to assess the capabilities that exist across the world in this field, the officials said.

The market for drones is rapidly expanding across the globe. In the defence sector, there is an increasing demand of UAV's for varied uses, such as surveillance, reconnaissance, electronic warfare and combat strike missions. As part of the competition, the defence ministry has also launched a new web page for Drone Olympics where participants can register by January 26 next year.