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Avantel disclosed the contract to the stock exchanges on 29 August 2026 under Regulation 30 of the SEBI Listing Obligations and Disclosure Requirements. The order has been awarded by DRDO under the Ministry of Defence and is classified as a domestic contract. Its total value of ₹117.88 crore includes applicable taxes.
Developed in-house within the Indian Army by Major Rajprasad R.S. of the Corps of Engineers, the robotic platform represents a significant step in the Army’s growing effort to integrate unmanned ground systems into frontline formations. SapperScout 2.0 has been conceived as a modular vehicle rather than a single-purpose robot, allowing different mission payloads to be installed on a common all-terrain chassis.
The programme is significant because CHESS is one of the DRDO establishments associated with high-energy technologies and directed-energy research. A collimated fibre laser array represents an important class of optical technology for generating, conditioning and directing multiple laser outputs with controlled beam characteristics, capabilities that have relevance to the broader development of scalable high-power laser systems.
The development was reported on 30 August 2026, with defence sources indicating that the Russian response to the Indian requirement had been received and was being processed. The proposed acquisition has been estimated in defence reporting at more than ₹50,000 crore, although the Ministry of Defence has not publicly released a final contract value or detailed squadron configuration for the new procurement.
The comparison became more relevant after DRDO successfully demonstrated MPATGM against a moving tank-type target in January 2026 using a top-attack engagement profile. That trial showed that the latest Indian configuration had moved beyond basic technology demonstration and was approaching the stage required for induction into the Indian Army. The result placed India much closer to possessing a domestically controlled weapon in the same broad battlefield category as Javelin.
GCAP is one of the world’s most ambitious future combat-air programmes. Britain, Japan and Italy are jointly developing a next-generation stealth fighter and associated combat-air technologies intended to enter service in the mid-2030s.
The Ministry of Defence described the August 25 decision as an important step towards greater self-reliance in defence manufacturing. Instead of relying primarily on a small number of traditional production agencies, DRDO-developed conventional missile technologies can now be transferred to a wider pool of capable Indian manufacturers.
Air Marshal Jeetendra Mishra (Retd), who headed the IAF’s Western Air Command during Operation Sindoor, has said that India destroyed five Pakistani fighter aircraft in flight, while additional aircraft—including multiple F-16 fighters—were destroyed or damaged during precision strikes against Pakistani airbases.
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.
