Dronathon 2026: How the IAF Is Building India’s Next-Generation Drone Warfare Ecosystem

The Indian Air Force’s first Dronathon-2026, held at the Pokhran Field Firing Range in Jaisalmer from 14–16 September 2026, could prove more important than a conventional defence exhibition or technology demonstration.

The reason is simple: the IAF was not merely asking Indian companies to display drones. It was asking a more consequential question:

Can India’s rapidly expanding unmanned-systems industry convert technology into operational capability?

More than 20 defence companies, start-ups, MSMEs, DPSUs and innovators were officially identified by the Ministry of Defence as participants. Media reports have indicated a much wider industry presence, with some estimates putting the number of Indian companies involved at around 60. The official IAF/MoD description, however, remains the more conservative figure of more than 20 participating organisations.

The distinction matters because Dronathon-2026 represents a change in the relationship between the Indian military and the domestic drone industry.

Instead of waiting for a conventional procurement requirement, followed by years of development, evaluation and acquisition, the IAF appears to be creating a more continuous user–developer interaction model.

And that could become one of the most important developments in India’s unmanned-warfare ecosystem.

Senior officers identified as attending Dronathon-2026

Indian Air Force

Air Marshal Ashutosh Dixit — Vice Chief of the Air Staff (VCAS) 

1. Chief guest/inaugurated Dronathon-2026 at Pokhran on 14 September. 
2. Released the IAF UAS Roadmap. 
3. Also witnessed the demonstration of Vayu UTtaM, the IAF’s indigenous multi-mode UAS Traffic Management system. 

Air Marshal P. V. Shivanand — AOC-in-C, South Western Air Command 

1. His presence is particularly relevant because Pokhran falls within the operational area of SWAC, making the command an important user formation for unmanned and counter-UAS technologies. 

Air Marshal Prem Kumar — Director General (Weapons Systems) 

1. His appointment is particularly relevant to the Dronathon focus on weapons systems, one-way attack UAVs, loitering systems and counter-UAS capabilities. 

From technology demonstration to operational effect

The IAF’s own description of Dronathon-2026 provides the central theme.

The event was designed to move “from technology demonstration to operational effect.”

Participating systems were assessed in demanding and contested environments, with emphasis on reliability, effectiveness and adaptability to changing operational requirements. The capability spectrum covered:

• Intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance
• Autonomous operations
• Swarm technologies
• Electronic warfare
• Counter-UAS
• Communications
• Sensors and payloads
• Propulsion
• Airspace management

This is significantly broader than the conventional concept of a military UAV.

The IAF explicitly described unmanned systems as a complement to manned aviation, providing commanders with greater reach, persistence, responsiveness and flexibility.

This suggests that the IAF is looking at drones not as a separate equipment category but as part of a larger air-power architecture.

Pokhran as the test bed

The location itself was significant. Pokhran provides a much more realistic environment than an indoor exhibition or controlled airfield demonstration.  For unmanned systems, desert conditions can expose problems involving heat, dust, communications, navigation, endurance and reliability that may remain hidden during laboratory testing.

The IAF’s stated objective was to evaluate systems under realistic operational conditions rather than simply observe demonstrations.

This is particularly important for autonomous systems. A drone that performs perfectly under benign GNSS conditions may behave very differently when exposed to:

• GNSS denial
• GNSS spoofing
• Electronic interference
• Communications disruption
• Degraded data links
• High temperature
• Dust
• Limited launch/recovery infrastructure

Consequently, the most valuable output from Dronathon may not be which company flew the longest or fastest drone.

The systems emerging from India’s industry

The IAF has not published a comprehensive official catalogue identifying every company and every system demonstrated at Dronathon-2026.

Bharat Forge

Bharat Forge’s aerospace arm demonstrated an indigenous turbojet engine and, in collaboration with Kadet Defence Systems, showcased long-range UAV capability. The company also reported a five-hour continuous endurance sortie by its NPD-1, highlighting its ISR role.

On 16 September, Bharat Forge said its Omega One, an under-5 kg MTOW UAV, flew more than 50 km over the Pokhran area while demonstrating ISR capability. These are company-reported results rather than independent IAF certification figures.

India needs indigenous capability across the entire UAV stack—including propulsion. A domestic airframe powered by an imported critical engine remains vulnerable to supply-chain disruption. The appearance of indigenous propulsion technology at Dronathon is therefore noteworthy.

IG Defence

Odisha-based IG Defence publicly confirmed participation with a portfolio including:

• KAL Long Range Loitering Munition
• BAJ Mk-1
• JWALA Mk-1
• T-SHUL BEAM
• FPV Striker series

The portfolio represents several layers of the unmanned battlefield—from long-range precision/loitering systems to tactical and FPV systems and counter-UAS technology. The company also demonstrated T-SHUL BEAM, a man-portable directional C-UAS system.

According to IG Defence, the system uses multi-band RF countermeasures aimed at disrupting command-and-control, telemetry, video transmission and GNSS links. Those technical claims should be treated as company-reported capabilities rather than an independently published IAF evaluation.

The Indian drone industry is simultaneously developing drones and the systems required to defeat them.  That creates the beginnings of a domestic UAS–CUAS ecosystem rather than a one-sided drone market.

TISA Aerospace

TISA Aerospace confirmed that it was shortlisted for Dronathon-2026 and showcased an indigenous loitering-munition UAV, including ground- and air-launch capabilities.

This reflects another important direction. The modern military UAV is increasingly becoming modular. A common platform architecture can potentially support:

ISR → target acquisition → communications relay → loitering munition → one-way attack

depending on payload and mission configuration. That modularity could eventually allow the IAF to reduce the number of entirely separate platforms it has to operate and maintain.

Sarus Aerospace

Belagavi-based Sarus Aerospace showcased Shaurya, an indigenous fixed-wing VTOL UAS.

The company describes Shaurya as a modular platform intended for surveillance and reconnaissance, mapping, logistics/delivery, payload deployment and expendable missions. Sarus has also publicly reported testing at approximately 5,000 metres altitude and operations under GNSS-denied and GNSS-jamming/spoofing conditions. These figures are company claims and should not be interpreted as IAF certification.

The fixed-wing VTOL concept is particularly relevant for military operations because it attempts to combine:

fixed-wing endurance + vertical take-off/landing flexibility. For dispersed operations, temporary forward locations and areas without conventional runways, that combination can be valuable.

Vayu UTtaM: perhaps the most important demonstration

One of the most strategically significant demonstrations at Dronathon was not an attack drone. It was Vayu UTtaM, the IAF’s indigenous multi-mode Unmanned Traffic Management system. During the real-time demonstration at Pokhran, the system detected and tracked both military and civilian UAS.

“How do we detect hostile drones?”

It is also:

“How do we know which drones are legitimate?”

Vayu UTtaM is intended to facilitate coordinated UAS operations while helping identify unauthorised or rogue drones. The government says the technology has potential applications in airspace safety, critical infrastructure, civil aviation and public safety as well.

This is a major conceptual shift. Counter-drone warfare cannot operate effectively if the airspace itself is not understood.

Nibe Ltd

VayuAstra Loitering Munition – Demonstrated indigenous long-range loitering-munition capability at Pokhran; NIBE’s published VayuAstra specification is up to 100 km.

The real breakthrough: the IAF UAS Roadmap

During Dronathon-2026, the Vice Chief of the Air Staff released the IAF UAS Roadmap.

This could ultimately become more important than the three-day event itself.

The stated objective is to provide Indian industry, academia and research organisations greater clarity about future IAF capability priorities and allow developers to align their efforts with operational requirements.

For India’s start-up ecosystem, this is crucial.

One of the traditional problems in defence innovation is the gap between:

What industry develops

and

What the military actually needs.

If the roadmap genuinely becomes a continuing mechanism for communicating operational priorities, it could reduce that gap.

The industry can then invest in areas where there is a realistic pathway toward evaluation, development and eventual induction.

From individual drones to a sensor-to-shooter ecosystem

Perhaps the most important strategic lesson from Dronathon-2026 is that the IAF is increasingly thinking beyond individual platforms.

A future unmanned operation could look something like this:

Sensor → detection → data link → AI processing → command-and-control → target identification → decision → effect → battle-damage assessment.

A 500-km-range UAV with a superb airframe is of limited value if its communications architecture collapses in a contested electromagnetic environment. Similarly, a loitering munition is only as effective as the intelligence and targeting network feeding it.

This is why the IAF’s official description explicitly includes propulsion, sensors, payloads, communications, autonomy, EW, countermeasures and airspace management rather than focusing exclusively on airframes.

That is the right direction for a mature unmanned ecosystem.

What should come next?

The real test of Dronathon-2026 will begin after Pokhran.  The IAF now has several possible pathways.

1. Move from demonstrations to repeatable trials

A successful demonstration should become a structured evaluation programme. Companies need multiple opportunities to demonstrate reliability—not just one successful sortie.

2. Establish capability-based competitions

Rather than asking only for a particular aircraft specification, the IAF could increasingly define operational problems:

long-range ISR, GNSS-denied reconnaissance, tactical logistics, EW penetration, swarm ISR, runway-independent operations, counter-UAS, autonomous targeting support.

Industry can then propose solutions.

3. Create rapid induction pathways

Some technologies do not need to wait for a decade-long procurement cycle.

Particularly in areas such as:

• ISR drones
• FPV systems
• Tactical UAS
• Counter-UAS
• Communications relays
• Expendable systems

the development cycle should be much shorter.

4. Test software as seriously as hardware

Future unmanned warfare will increasingly be determined by:

AI, autonomy, mission software, navigation, sensor fusion and electronic resilience.

The IAF therefore needs continuous software evaluation and updates rather than treating the drone as a finished hardware product.

5. Build manned–unmanned teaming

The long-term objective should not be a separate “drone force” operating independently of the IAF’s manned fleet. It should be an integrated architecture in which fighters, UAVs, loitering systems, sensors, EW platforms and command networks operate together.

Dronathon should become a process, not an event

This may ultimately be the biggest lesson from the first Dronathon. India does not need another annual defence exhibition where hundreds of products are displayed and then forgotten.

It needs a continuous operational innovation cycle:

Requirement → Industry development → Field demonstration → Evaluation → Feedback → modification → Repeat trial → Limited induction → Operational feedback → Scale-up.

If Dronathon evolves into that mechanism, it could become a powerful bridge between India’s rapidly growing private drone industry and the IAF’s operational requirements.

The official Dronathon announcement already signals that direction: the objective is to move from technology demonstration to operational effect and to build an ecosystem covering the entire unmanned chain.

The road ahead

Dronathon-2026 should therefore be viewed less as India’s first major drone showcase and more as an early experiment in how India can build an operational unmanned ecosystem.

The participating systems demonstrate that India’s capability is expanding across a remarkably wide spectrum:

ISR drones → VTOL UAS → long-endurance systems → loitering munitions → FPV platforms → EW → C-UAS → autonomy → UTM → indigenous propulsion.

The next challenge is scale.  

Can India turn dozens of promising prototypes into hundreds or thousands of dependable systems?

Can small companies obtain production orders?

Can propulsion, sensors, datalinks, batteries, navigation systems and payloads be indigenised at the same pace as airframes?

Can Indian systems remain effective when GNSS is denied and the electromagnetic spectrum is contested?

And, most importantly, can the IAF integrate these systems into a common sensor-to-shooter architecture?

Dronathon-2026 has begun that conversation.

The real measure of its success will not be the number of drones that flew at Pokhran.

It will be how many of those technologies eventually become reliable, scalable and operationally relevant capabilities for the Indian Air Force.

That is where India’s unmanned future will ultimately be decided.