Jet drone Nightshade Mk-2: Apollyon Dynamics from Hyderabad publishes first images

The defence start-up Apollyon Dynamics from Hyderabad, India, has published the first images of its new Nightshade Mk-2 jet drone. They show a compact airframe: a pointed nose, a slender fuselage, sharply swept wings and a small turbojet above the tail.

According to company head Jayant Khatri, this is a real fuselage and not a computer-generated image. Dark teaser images then appeared on X, accompanied by the caption “Nightshade Mk-2 SOON!”.

Nightshade Mk-2
SOON! https://t.co/yezBimOkD8

There are no technical data for the Mk-2 yet. According to the manufacturer, its predecessor, the Nightshade ADX-1, weighs a maximum of 70 kilograms, carries up to five kilograms of explosives and attacks at 600 to 700 km/h. It reaches targets more than 100 kilometres deep in enemy territory, and future versions are to achieve a range of over 150 kilometres. Navigation is inertial, in terrain-following flight – so the system remains precise even when the GPS signal is jammed. Khatri told the portal YourStory: “We were the first company in India to launch a jet-powered system from the roof of a moving car.”

Another day, another successful launch of Nightshade ADX-1. 🚀
Each successful flight is a significant milestone on our journey toward operational readiness, generating valuable flight data and bringing us one step closer to our goal.
@ApollyonDyn #Nightshade https://t.co/aP7ZSIW44g

Jet drone planned in several variants

Several configurations are planned for the Nightshade family, including as a target drone for training air defence units, as a radar decoy and as a loitering munition. The first target drones are to go to the Indian Army by December, and tests of the loitering munition are then planned for next year.

Apollyon Dynamics grew out of a student project at the BITS Pilani campus and was founded by Khatri and Sourya Choudhury in May 2025. The start-up's kamikaze drones, which reach more than 300 km/h, are already in service with units of the Indian Army. A seed round of around €4.5 million is planned within six months.

The portfolio also includes the Project Piranha system, intended for use at sea, and the prototype of the Ahuti Mk II interceptor drone, which reaches 498 km/h and, according to Khatri, is India's fastest multicopter. In the longer term, the company wants to build systems on the scale of cruise missiles with at least Mach 1. Khatri told YourStory: “We have stopped building regular drones” and “We have instead shifted entirely to higher-value products.” A date for the first flight of the Mk-2 has not yet been set.