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Singh confirmed that TASL is separately developing systems with a range of 400 km, indicating that the company is working beyond the tactical loitering-munition category in which it has already secured significant orders from the Indian armed forces.
The project, formally titled “Development of Close Formation Flying of Multiple DRONES,” has been launched under the Ministry of Defence’s Technology Development Fund scheme, which is executed by DRDO to bring Indian companies, particularly startups and MSMEs, into the development of advanced defence technologies.
The initiative is important because modern armies need combat engineers who can keep pace with tanks and mechanised formations. Traditional mine-laying often requires considerable manpower and time. A vehicle-mounted system can scatter mines much faster while remaining mobile.
Until now, the framework covered 41 specified countries. Under the revised system, OGEL coverage has been extended to all countries except negative or sensitive nations and countries subject to United Nations Security Council sanctions or arms embargoes.
The proposed aircraft is significantly more capable than the relatively small logistics drones increasingly used for last-mile military resupply. Reported requirements call for a 50-kilometre one-way operating range, a service ceiling of about 25,000 feet, as many as five sorties per day and operation in temperatures falling to around –40°C. Crucially, the aircraft is also expected to retain autonomous capability when satellite-navigation signals are unavailable or deliberately jammed.
The two organisations signed a Memorandum of Understanding on 28 August 2026 at CISF Headquarters in New Delhi. The partnership will connect the security force directly with India’s growing ecosystem of drone startups, technology developers and counter-UAS specialists, creating a structured mechanism for training, applied research, testing and operational deployment.
For India, such an arrangement could address one of the most persistent technological gaps in its aerospace sector. The country has successfully developed indigenous fighters, helicopters, missiles, radars, electronic-warfare systems and increasingly sophisticated unmanned aircraft, but a high-thrust afterburning turbofan suitable for an advanced fighter remains a major technological frontier.
Reports emerging on 28 August 2026 indicate that work has begun on mounting the PRABAL system on the protected Armado platform. If confirmed, the configuration would represent another important step in the Army’s rapidly expanding effort to develop mobile defences against drones and loitering munitions.
U.S. Ambassador to India Sergio Gor said on 28 August 2026 that India plans to purchase the battle-tested Javelin anti-tank missile system from the United States. The statement is significant because it provides fresh confirmation that a procurement track first publicly outlined by the two governments in 2025 remains active.
At the heart of this underwater capability is the Naval Physical and Oceanographic Laboratory in Kochi, better known as NPOL. The DRDO laboratory has emerged as one of India’s principal centres for underwater acoustics, sonar engineering and anti-submarine warfare technologies, developing systems capable of detecting, classifying and tracking submarines and other underwater threats.
