Indian companies’ drones and anti-drone technology took center stage at the recently concluded air show Aero India-2025. The Caucasian, Middle Eastern, South East Asian, and African countries came up with a shopping list to augment their capabilities for futuristic warfare dominated by unmanned vehicles.
One of the Indian companies is even setting up a manufacturing plant in America to enter the NATO market. At Aero India-2025, the number of unmanned platforms on display far exceeded the number of fighter jets on display.
Countries worldwide have been exploring the technologies offered by Indian companies, considering that most of these technologies have been imbibed by Indian forces.
In recent years, the Indian defense services have invested over Rs 3,000 crore ($350M) in procuring nearly 2,500 military drones. The Indian drone market is poised to reach billions of dollars mark over the next decade, with projections varying from USD 4 billion to USD 40 billion.
The Indian government has been heavily promoting local drone manufacturing through initiatives like the Production-Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme and reformed guidelines like the Drone Rules, 2021.
A major highlight of the Union Budget for 2025-26 has been the Rs 57 crore ($6.5M) allocation for the Production-Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme specifically tailored to boost the manufacturing of drones and drone components. This marks a notable 72% increase from the previous year’s Rs 33 crore allocation. However, Indian drone manufacturers have been seeking a greater influx of money.
Currently, 50-60 percent of drone parts used in India are imported; the new scheme seeks to reverse this trend by offering incentives to increase the localization levels to about 70 percent of the total value.
At present, nearly 300 drone manufacturers in the country make various kinds of Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) for various utilities, spanning from defense to agriculture.
India has set a target to become a major global drone manufacturing hub by 2030. This ambition is expected to boost the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) by 1–1.5% and create at least five lakh jobs in the coming years.
Zen Technology Anti-Drone Systems
Zen Technology shot to the limelight when Armenia chose the India-developed Zen Anti-Drone System for its forces. The Indian Air Force (IAF) purchased this anti-drone system in 2021, and the Indian Army ordered 20 units of C-UAS worth INR 2.27 billion (US$27.3 million).
Now, the company is moving to set up a manufacturing unit in the US to cater to the needs of the NATO alliance.
“We do not have orders as of now, and we are exploring that with the US Government. The focus is more on agile solutions,” Ashok Atluri, Chairman and Managing Director of Zen Technologies, told the EurAsian Times.
The company has formalized its partnership with Applied Visual Technology Inc. D.B.A. AVT Simulation, a premier provider of customized training systems in Florida. This collaboration is set to revolutionize simulation and training solutions for defense and security forces.
This alliance integrates Zen’s cutting-edge technologies with AVT’s expertise in delivering tailored simulation systems. Together, the companies will develop next-generation solutions for defense, emergency response, and commercial applications, addressing the surging demand for immersive, cost-effective training platforms in the US.
Zen Technology has recently patented crew gunnery simulators for T-72 and T-90 tanks.
Zen Technology’s anti-drone system has also been evolving. It incorporates hard-kill methods involving physical measures used to neutralize or destroy hostile drones, along with passive systems that rely on soft-kill methods such as jamming or spoofing the drone’s communication signals.
The anti-drone system from Zen Technologies protects in a layered manner. At Aero India, it unveiled its Anti-Drone System called “Vyomkavach” (Shield of the Sky).
The first layer of protection comprises RFDD (Radio Frequency Direction Finding), a technique used to detect and track the direction of radio signals.
When it comes to swarm detection, RFDD systems can be employed to identify and locate multiple drones operating in a coordinated manner. In the next stage, the Jammers get to work. The drones that escape jamming are engaged by Kamikaze drones.
The third layer calls for targeting enemy drones through missiles. The last step has hard kill options. Kinetic-based kill and a Net-based drone catcher are the two options available in hard kill. Kinetic-based neutralization is supplied with a gun that can auto-align to the target and fire bullets against the target to destroy the same physically.
Countries from Africa, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia have expressed interest in Zen Technologies’ anti-drone solutions. Sources indicate that a contract with Iraq might be in the offing.
Zen Technologies has upgraded the Swedish vintage anti-aircraft gun L-70 into a drone hunting machine. The project was started in 2020 by the Army Air Defence Corps of the Indian Army. The system interfaces a counter-drone system made by Zen Technologies with the army’s in-service L-70 air defense gun.
Many countries have expressed interest in this L-70 integrated anti-drone system.
Paras Defence
Paras Defence is a 40-year-old company that specializes in technologies for rockets and missiles, space research, naval systems, electronic warfare, drones, and quantum communication.
The company has subsidiaries in various fields, including optics and optronics systems, hyperspectral imaging cameras for space, defense engineering (defense electronics and defense pulse protection), and anti-drone technologies involving radio frequency and microwaves.
It has also developed a ground-based satellite tracking system and is in talks with Japan and South Korea to sell these systems.
Its anti-drone system incorporates both soft kill and hard kill.
“Drones are getting smaller, and engaging technology is getting more and more complex. Four senses are needed for sensing drones – active, passive detection, acoustic, and electronic. Jamming and spoofing is done for short and long-range. It can be both handheld and transportable. Laser and electromagnetic pulses can be employed for the hard kill,” the Director of Paras Defence and Space Technologies Limited Amit Mahajan said in an interview with the EurAsian Times.
The system can detect and jam drones within a 3 km radius. “You can do it using a single handle,” Mahajan added. The Indian Army is already conducting field trials for the system in the northern and eastern commands.
Garuda Aerospace’s Land Mine Detection And Diffusement System Interests Armenia
Garuda Aerospace unveiled eight new drone systems at the Aero India 2025. They were Rocket Launcher Drone, Land Mine Detection & Diffusement System, Logistics Drone, Thales Garuda UTM, Firefighting Drone for State Disaster Response Force operations, VR Military Drone Simulator, Grenade & Canister Dropping Drone and Life Buoy Drone.
Armenia has sought a demonstration for the Land Mine Detection & Diffusement System.
