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When loitering munitions – also called suicide drones or Kamikaze drones – monitored and intercepted enemy targets with precision in Operation Sindoor, the writing was on the wall: drones are the future of warfare. The Russia-Ukraine war too is buttressing that message almost every day.
These unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) have become extremely powerful because of ever-advancing radar technologies, computer vision, automation and AI. And as defence concerns rise, many companies in India are today designing and developing them, often with govt support.
“The first line of attack and defence in modern warfare are drones, not armies marching out,” says Aakash Sinha, CEO & founder of Omnipresent Robot Tech.
Bodhisattwa Sanghapriya, founder of IG Drones, whose equipment was used in Operation Sindoor, says drones have shifted the balance of power. They blur the line between surveillance and strike. Traditionally, military tools were either for watching (like reconnaissance aircraft, CCTV, satellites) or for attacking (like fighter jets, artillery). “But now, modern drones can do both – the same platform that is quietly observing enemy movement can instantly switch to launching a missile or dropping a bomb,” he says.
What’s more, drones are redefining the value of size. Earlier, bigger the tank, ship or aircraft, the more armour they carried. Now, small, fast, and smart drone systems can outperform big platforms in certain missions. Real-time intelligence from sensors, satellites and AI analysis drives precise targeting and reduces collateral damage.
Tapan Misra, founder of Sisir Radar, says drones are also cheap, and easy to operate. Manufacturing drones does not require the huge spaces that tanks or aircrafts do. They can also be dismantled easily.
Generating high-quality images
Some of the biggest innovations are happening in improving the quality of image capture, and understanding what a drone is seeing. Many use in their drones what is called a synthetic aperture radar (SAR), a remote sensing technique that uses microwave pulses to create high-resolution images of the Earth’s surface, regardless of weather or time of day.
Omnipresent, which has received a Rs 25 crore grant from the defence ministry, and Sisir Radar, which has got a nod from the Indian Air Force for its upcoming products, are both building extremely high-resolution SARs, which in turn will help create exact 3D maps. Both are developing algorithms and systems inhouse that enable this. “The resolution will be so high that it will have significant applications in military reconnaissance, terrain mapping and damage assessment. It can be used to locate terrorists inside a dense forest with precision, it can track hidden vehicles, tunnels, etc,” says Sisir’s Misra, who was a scientist at Isro earlier.
Enabling precision targeting
IG Drones is now developing next-generation FPV (first-person view) Kamikaze UAVs purpose-built for tactical strike missions across varied terrain profiles. FPV technology allows the remote pilot to see through the drone’s camera in real-time, either through special goggles or a monitor. Sanghapriya says these drones are small, fast, and highly manoeuvrable, and they give the pilot full visual control, enabling extreme precision in target acquisition and engagement. “They are designed for single-use high-impact strike missions,” he says. To ensure extreme precision when the pilot fires or drops a bomb, the drones are equipped with not just GPS, which is one specific satellite navigation system, but also devices that can use signals from other satellite constellations. If satellite systems are jammed, laser rangefinders and target designators can lock the exact target coordinates, with the inertial navigation system (INS) helping to maintain accuracy.
DroneAcharya Aerial Innovations, which recently won a big order from the defence ministry, is building an edge-AI stack, which will enable drones to detect, classify, and track targets onboard, without the data needing to go to a cloud infrastructure. The company’s managing director Prateek Srivastava says they are also working on swar ms and teaming, where multiple drones can collaborate like a flock of birds and cover massive areas quickly. “Swarm patrols can protect bases and convoys around t h e clock at a fraction of the cost of traditional systems,” he says.
Building endurance
Another big effort is around improving the duration that drones can stay in the air. That depends partly on the weight of the drones, and digitalising payloads helps. Misra says their SAR is a software-defined radar. Sanghapriya is working on a battery-cum-fuel cell hybrid propulsion system to try to increase flight duration from 20-25 minutes now to over 45 minutes. Paras Defence and Space Technologies is working on hydrogen-powered drone technology to enhance flight endurance.
Paras has also built cutting-edge anti-drone technologies for defence against enemy drones. Amit Mahajan, director in the company, says it will pave the way towards self-reliance in low-cost, high-performance drone detection and jamming systems.
Towards new roles for humans, and foundation models
While automation and AI are enabling dramatic improvements, human involvement remains crucial. Pranav Chitte, founder of PBC Aero Hub, a DGCA-approved drone training organisation in Pune, says in areas such as understanding airspace, safety norms, and regulatory frameworks or in complex, unpredictable environments, human judgement trumps AI. Human roles, he says, will shift from piloting, towards supervision, analysis, ethics, and specialised interventions.
Srivastava says the future will be about foundation models fine-tuned for aerial data, where you can simply tell a drone: ‘Map this area and flag illegal encroachments’ – and it does it. Or multi-agent coordination, where drones, ground robots, and sensors work as one team. The goal, he says, would be “missions that self-heal, adapt, and continue even under jamming or rough weather.”
