THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Indian Army and the Kerala Police have evinced keen interest in a 27-year-old Keralite’s startup that manufactures the state’s first-of-its-kind thermal imaging surveillance units - Panther. Cyriac Pius, the CEO and MD of Ozak Technologies, is elated as it is the first defence manufacturing company in the country’s first defence park, Kinfra in Palakkad.
When Cyriac, belonging to Pala, passed the mechanical engineering course from the College of Engineering, Thiruvananthapuram, in 2016, he was keen on becoming an entrepreneur.
But like any other engineering student, he joined an MNC in Bengaluru for two years. Later he was mentored by S Thomas, CEO of Digital Core Technologies, Kochi, and guided by Maj. Gen. Jacob Tharakan Chacko (retired) for research and development on electronics, making the product 60% indigenous.
The thermal imaging technology is Cyriac’s dream project, which led to the formation of Ozak. He told TNIE that it was not easy getting the industrial licence for the production of thermal imaging equipment from the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade, the tedious process taking a year. Without that, Cyriac and his team of 10 engineers would not have been able to manufacture thermal imaging units.
“Panther, the Thermal Weapon Sight, is an all-weather and all terrain 24x7 system that makes night vision better than day for a soldier on duty. The thermal device is extremely light-weight and ergonomically designed. Panther offers the unique facility of a change of weapon and firer without a loss of accuracy. It comes with three lens options enabling detection ranging from 1km to 2.2km.
We recently participated in various tender processes which generated keen interest in the Indian Army and the Kerala Police,” Cyriac said.
The young entrepreneur had invested Rs 75 lakh towards his dream project which also saw a Turkish company 3E Elektro Optik Sistemler in collaborating with Ozak Technologies and its R&D division. The uniqueness of Cyriac’s thermal imaging unit is that it can also be used to check defects in solar panels.