Is India Ready for Drone Warfare? The Weakest Link is the Obvious

The recent conflicts in West Asia and Eastern Europe have shown middle powers that even asymmetric wars can be won on the back of cheap drones. In Ukraine, $400 FPV (First-Person View) kamikaze drones neutralised multi-million-dollar tanks and aircraft. Meanwhile, Iran sent swarms of low-cost unmanned systems across the Gulf and beyond, stretching sophisticated air defence networks to their limits. 

India has been paying close attention. Over the past five years, through progressive regulation, targeted financial incentives, and defence-tech startup policies, India has rapidly built one of the most consequential drone industries.

“Unfortunately, technology has made war easier, as conflicts are now fought with drones and missiles. At a macro level, the impact of such disruptions will be felt by everyone. But I also see significant technological opportunities,” comments Niharika Kolte, Founder and CEO of drone tech startup Volar Alta, in a conversation with AIM.

On the civilian front, the progress has been palpable.  

Building the Foundation

The policy foundation was laid with the Drone Rules, 2021, which dramatically simplified regulation. 

The types of fee reduced from 72 to four, the number of approvals came down from 25 to five, and nearly 90% of Indian airspace was designated a green zone for drone operations up to 400 feet. Amendments in 2022 and 2023 expanded civilian operations to payloads of up to 500 kg.

Financial incentives followed. 

A ₹120 crore Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme targeted domestic manufacturing, while GST was unified at 5%. Platforms such as Bharat Drone Mahotsav, National Innovation Challenge for Drone Application and Research, and Bharat Drone Shakti have also actively promoted drone-as-a-service startups. 

Meanwhile, initiatives like the SVAMITVA Scheme used drones to survey 3.28 lakh villages for mapping rural residential land. 

Drone adoption in public service delivery is also picking up. The National Highways Authority of India now mandates monthly drone video recordings for highway projects. The Railway Protection Force uses drones for surveillance across rail infrastructure. In disaster response, the North East Centre for Technology Application and Reach has developed long-endurance drones that transmit live visuals from flood and landslide zones

As of February 2026, 38,575 drones have been registered, 39,890 remote pilot certificates have been issued, and 244 training organisations have been approved nationwide, as per PIB.

Yet, regulatory risks remain. 

Shivanghi Sukumar, AI expert and competition lawyer, warns that the Draft Civil Drone Bill, 2025, could reverse the gains of 2021. The draft legislation, prepared by the Ministry of Civil Aviation, seeks to overhaul the Drone Rules 2021, introducing universal registration, mandatory licensing for operators, type certification before building prototypes, and criminal penalties for paperwork errors. 

“Steep compliance costs function as barriers to entry, favouring well-capitalised incumbents over startups and MSMEs,” she notes, adding that the Bill risks widening the gap between small players and key players like ideaForge, Garuda Aerospace, and HAL as it makes the landscape less competitive.

“Procurement criteria must be stringent enough to protect operational quality, but transparent and consistently applied enough to give capable new entrants a pathway,” Sukumar notes.

Doctrine Meets Deployment

Now, the current geopolitical tensions have brought defence adoption to the forefront.

The Indian Army recently unveiled a technology roadmap for unmanned aerial systems (UAS), covering 30 types of UAS and loitering munitions across five categories, translating into around 80 variants. The plan focuses on AI-enabled, networked drones as well as kamikaze drones. 

Meanwhile, Surat-based drone tech startup InsideFPV recently delivered “hundreds” of self-destruct drones to the Indian Army under a ₹10 crore emergency procurement contract, according to TOI.

The Indian Navy, too, is exploring frontier applications. Under the Defence India Startup Challenge, it has proposed a heavy-lift drone capable of reloading surface-to-air missiles on warships at sea—a concept that could redefine naval endurance.

“We must have anti‑drone systems in place and develop predictive technologies for industrial faults, geopolitical tensions, and emerging risks,” Kolte says. India’s indigenous anti-drone capabilities are being spearheaded by the Defence Research and Development Organisation, including the development of the D4 system, AI-enabled Indrajaal, and the low-cost Bhargavastra swarm killer.

Kolte highlights that the emerging use cases are being driven by conflict realities, infrastructure loss surveillance, predictive maintenance, and industrial asset documentation.

Capital, Gaps, and the Limits of Indigenisation

For investors, the sector presents both opportunity and complexity.

“Geopolitical tension is doing something unusual in this sector; its duality is interesting. While it may help build conviction on one hand, it is also the most significant source of structural uncertainty to be navigated,” notes Sadhika Agarwal of Equirus InnovateX Fund. 

She identifies export controls as the biggest risk. “A startup that builds a capable enough system may find its export addressable market significantly constrained by classification decisions that are difficult to anticipate.”

Her framework centres on “regulatory surface area”, favouring companies with lower regulatory exposure and diversified revenue streams. The most compelling teams, she notes, are those leveraging defence opportunities to validate performance while building commercial channels with predictable unit economics.

Agarwal also flags a critical technical gap. “The most critical gap is propulsion,” she asserts. India lacks a mature ecosystem for high-performance propulsion systems and precision manufacturing at scale, alongside gaps in advanced materials such as carbon fibre composites and aerospace-grade alloys.

Aditya Vuchi, General Partner at VCMint, echoes the cautious optimism. “It is evident that Indian drone startups are attracting capital… most of the interest is concentrated around defence and security-led use cases, where demand visibility is clearer.”

However, he notes that the market is “yet to be a broad, self-sustaining” one, with capital deployment remaining selective.

On indigenisation, he adds, “At the component level, there is still dependence on global supply chains… full indigenisation is still a work in progress.”

Sukumar extends this argument to a wider picture. As exports scale, state support mechanisms such as PLIs may attract scrutiny from trading partners, similar to what India has faced in sectors like steel.

The next phase will depend on whether India can scale manufacturing beyond assembly, close critical component gaps, and design regulations that enable competition without compromising security.