Over the past decade, India has undergone a transformation that has reshaped its global standing. The Narendra Modi government’s focus on self-reliance, innovation, and technological advancement has propelled the nation into the elite echelons of cutting-edge technology and capabilities.
India’s defence sector has witnessed a paradigm shift, with the nation joining elite clubs through cutting-edge technologies that rival global superpowers. It underscores India’s readiness for modern warfare.
In a historic breakthrough, recently India successfully conducted trials of a laser-based directed energy weapon system capable of disabling fixed-wing and swarm drones.
With this, India has entered an elite group of only four nations, alongside the United States, Russia, and China. This year also, India has joined the elite club of nations testing an Active Cooled Scramjet for hypersonic missiles.
In the space sector, India captivated the world with record-breaking missions and pioneering technologies. Recently, India joined the elite group of four nations demonstrating satellite docking and undocking technology.
In a very significant development, the DRDO in November 2024 test-fired the country’s first long-range hypersonic missile that can carry both conventional and nuclear warheads to a distance exceeding. The long-range missile is manoeuvrable and flies over five times the speed of sound.
In 2023, ISRO created history by being the first country to land on Moon’s South Pole. This made India the fourth country in history to soft-land on the moon after the United States, the Soviet Union, and China.
Beyond these sectors, India’s ambitions extended to emerging domains, positioning it as a competitor among global tech leaders. With the announcement of Semicon India, the nation has entered the race to become a semiconductor hub, with investments from global tech giants and partnerships that place India among few nations seriously competing in chip manufacturing.
For the first time, India has showcased its capability to shoot down fixed-wing aircraft, missiles and swarm drones using a 30-kilowatt laser-based weapon system. India has joined the list of selected countries, including the US, China, and Russia, that have shown such a capability.
The Centre for High Energy Systems & Sciences CHESS, Hyderabad, a premier Centre of Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) recently conducted a successful field demonstration of the land-version of vehicle-mounted Laser Directed Weapon DEW MK-II(A) at Kurnool in Andhra Pradesh.
It defeated the fixed wing Unmanned Aerial Vehicle and Swarm Drones successfully causing structural damage and disabled the surveillance sensors. With this successful trial, India has joined the exclusive club of the global powers which possess the high power Laser DEW System.
Secretary, Department of Defence Research and Development and Chairman DRDO, Dr. Samir V Kamat said, this is just the beginning of the journey.
He expressed confidence that the synergy that this lab has achieved with other DRDO labs, industry and academia, it will take to the the destination soon.
Dr Kamat said DRDO is also working on other systems like high energy microwaves, electromagnetic pulse and on a number of technologies that will give the Star Wars capability.