In the pre-dawn hours of 7 May 2025, the Indian Armed Forces launched Operation Sindoor, striking terrorist infrastructure across Pakistan and Pakistan-administered Kashmir. Alongside Rafale jets firing SCALP missiles and HAMMER bombs, SkyStriker loitering-munition “suicide” drones delivered precision kinetic effects on high-value targets, marking the combat debut of an indigenous platform imagined in Israel and built in Bengaluru.
India relied almost entirely on foreign suppliers for its defence arsenal and unmanned systems a decade ago. An emergency procurement in 2021 placed orders for over 100 SkyStriker units amid growing recognition that future conflicts would demand stealthy, network-enabled loitering munitions. Designed by Israel’s Elbit Systems and licensed to Alpha Design Technologies—now part of Adani Defence & Aerospace—these 5–10 kg autonomous platforms marked a watershed moment: the combat debut of an Indigenous “Make in India” drone.
SkyStriker platforms, weighing 5–10 kg with warheads tailored for maximum effect, boast a range of up to 100 km and autonomous loiter-and-strike functionality. They combine day/night electro-optical sensors, GPS guidance, and onboard target recognition, allowing operators to conduct covert precision strikes without risking personnel. In Operation Sindoor, these drones disrupted command and control nodes deep behind enemy lines, augmenting the lethality and reach of conventional air-launched munitions.
This reflects a broader shift under the government’s “Make in India” defence initiative, which has opened procurement to private industry, simplified licensing, and reserved major acquisitions for locally designed and built systems.
Make in India: From Importer to Manufacturer
This shift from importer to manufacturer has been driven by decisive government action. Since 2014, the Ministry of Defence has progressively reduced the equipment reserved for state-owned enterprises, opening procurement to private industry and simplifying licensing for domestically designed systems. Establishing defence manufacturing corridors in Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu—with tax incentives, single-window clearances and ready infrastructure—has drawn global original equipment manufacturers and local small and medium enterprises into clustered production hubs.
Furthermore, under the “Buy (Indian-IDDM)” procurement category, the armed forces now explicitly prioritise indigenously designed, developed and manufactured systems, a policy that has bolstered orders for DRDO projects such as the Tejas light combat aircraft and the Advanced Towed Artillery Gun System. Indian conglomerates and agile startups have seized these opportunities. Tata and Mahindra have moved from licence-built upgrades to co-development of armoured vehicles and artillery systems—exemplified by Tata’s T-72 refurbishment programme and Mahindra’s air-portable light tactical vehicles.
Meanwhile, Adani Defence & Aerospace, in partnership with Elbit, has ramped up production of SkyStriker drones and is scaling up assembly lines for medium-altitude UAVS tailored for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance missions. Over 200 startups registered under the Defence Innovation Organisation are pushing the envelope further, developing niche solutions in electronic-warfare suites, AI-driven decision-support tools and collaborative drone swarms—injecting fresh dynamism into the defence supply chain.
Economic and Strategic Benefits
The economic dividends have been significant. More than 150,000 direct jobs have been created—from engineers and technicians to assembly-line operators—alongside several lakh indirect opportunities across precision machining, electronics manufacturing, composite fabrication and software development. Tier-II and tier-III cities surrounding defence corridors have become new growth centres, hosting ancillary industries that feed into drone, missile and aircraft production. Local SMEs now supply critical components—flight controllers, warhead fuzing mechanisms and composite airframes—integrating for the first time into global-standard value chains and accelerating technology transfer across sectors.
Perhaps most compelling is the emerging export potential. SkyStriker’s combat-proven performance in Operation Sindoor will generate enquiries from friendly nations in Southeast Asia, the Middle East and Africa. Analysts project that loitering munition exports could generate hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue over the next five years, strengthening India’s foreign exchange reserves and deepening defence diplomacy.
Operation Sindoor thus stands as a watershed moment: It demonstrated the tangible impact of “Make in India” policies on national security and economic resilience. As India continues to indigenise advanced platforms—from fighter aircraft and missile systems to drones and electronic warfare suites—it is cementing its position as a security guarantor and increasingly as a competitive exporter of next-generation military technology.
