The trial was conducted on August 26, 2026, with test jumpers from DRDO’s Aerial Delivery Research and Development Establishment (ADRDE), Agra, executing a jump from 22,000 feet above mean sea level while temperatures were around minus 15 degrees Celsius.
DRDO has initiated procurement of consultancy services covering detailed engineering, design drawings and soil investigation for the proposed facility. The current tender was published on August 6, 2026, marking an important preparatory step towards establishing the specialised wind-tunnel infrastructure at RCI.
The BRUTE-TLH is the logistics configuration of Gridbots’ larger BRUTE 6×6 unmanned ground vehicle platform, which has been designed and manufactured in India for defence and homeland-security applications. The company’s currently published technical specifications list a 250 kg direct-loading payload capacity for the Tactical Load Hauler configuration.
Bengaluru-based InCore Semiconductors is working in precisely this area. The company develops configurable processor cores based on the RISC-V instruction set. It also offers system-on-chip design tools, reference designs and supporting technologies for custom silicon development.
Astra integration on Rafale already has an established industrial foundation. In October 2022, Bharat Dynamics Limited and Dassault Aviation signed a memorandum of understanding covering the integration of Indian weapon systems, including Astra, on the Rafale platform. The agreement created a formal basis for adapting indigenous missiles to the French fighter.
The programme is being pursued through DRDO’s Technology Development Fund, which encourages Indian companies, particularly MSMEs and technology enterprises, to develop critical capabilities required by the country’s defence and strategic sectors.
This process is already taking place on a substantial scale. By the end of December 2025, 59,202 micro food-processing enterprises had been formalised under PMFME, while more than ₹17,015 crore of investment had been mobilised through the wider programme. The scheme had generated approximately 5.18 lakh direct and indirect employment opportunities, demonstrating how relatively small processing units can collectively create significant economic activity across rural and semi-urban India.
The two organisations signed a Joint Working Arrangement (JWA) on August 25, 2026, creating a structured framework that will bring the Armed Forces, DRDO laboratories, academia and India’s defence industry into closer collaboration. The arrangement is intended to improve the transition of promising technologies from research and experimentation towards capabilities suitable for future military applications.
One of the major highlights was the unveiling of C-DOT’s Quantum Products Wall, showcasing indigenous technologies from its Quantum Series. These include Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) and Post-Quantum Cryptography (PQC) solutions designed to protect communication networks as advances in quantum computing create new challenges for conventional encryption. A dedicated booklet consolidating C-DOT’s indigenous quantum-security technologies was also released.
China features prominently in the proposed collection. In addition to the J-20, J-35, DF-17, DF-41 and Type 055, the requirement includes representations of platforms such as the Fujian aircraft carrier, ZTZ-99A main battle tank, HQ-9 air-defence system, Z-10 attack helicopter and a Chinese submarine type.
