Defense

BEL and Esri India Technologies signed a Memorandum of Understanding on August 3, 2026, to jointly pursue opportunities involving Geographic Information Systems (GIS), location intelligence and GeoAI. A major focus of the agreement is supporting rapid or “surge” deployment of geospatial solutions for BEL and India’s defence services when operational requirements demand faster availability.

India and the UAE could therefore eventually operate a combined 142 Rafales based on already contracted aircraft, even before taking India’s proposed 114-aircraft follow-on procurement into account. This geographical concentration creates an unusually strong opportunity for regional maintenance infrastructure.

Early tanks relied primarily on rolled homogeneous steel armour. Modern main battle tanks employ much more sophisticated arrangements involving combinations of high-strength steel, ceramics, composite materials, spaced armour and other specialised materials.

The latest research focuses on a particularly difficult part of the vibration spectrum: low-frequency vibration. Conventional rubber isolation systems can perform effectively once vibration frequencies rise sufficiently above the natural resonance of the mounting system, but isolating machinery operating at lower frequencies presents a much greater engineering challenge.

DRDO Chairman Dr Samir V. Kamat has directly linked the organisation’s quantum-sensing research to submarine detection. He explained that DRDO is working on magnetometers capable of detecting changes in magnetic fields at the picotesla level and said such sensors could eventually be carried aboard UAVs or aircraft. According to Kamat, the technology could potentially enable submarine detection at depths of around 100 to 200 metres. The figure should presently be treated as a projected capability rather than a publicly demonstrated operational detection range.