IAF Holds Industry Outreach on Unmanned Systems Roadmap

The Indian Air Force held an Industry Outreach Programme at Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi on 21 October 2026 to tell industry what it will need in unmanned and autonomous systems over the long term. Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, startups and other industry partners were the audience.

Who ran it and who came

The programme was chaired by Air Marshal Premkumar K, VM, VSM, Director General (Weapon Systems) at Air Headquarters. Around 100 representatives of drone companies and allied industry partners attended, a turnout the Air Force reads as a sign of how far its engagement with India's unmanned ecosystem has come.

It builds on the roadmap from Pokhran

The event rests on the IAF Unmanned and Autonomous Systems Roadmap, which was released during IAF Dronathon 2026 at Pokhran on 14 September 2026. At the outreach the Air Force both explained its future requirements and handed out the roadmap booklet to industry partners, so that firms can read the operational requirement for themselves rather than guess at it.

What the roadmap envisages

The roadmap sets out a layered and networked family of unmanned systems, framed around how quickly air power is changing. The emphasis is on indigenous capabilities that are operationally relevant, reliable and resilient, and that work alongside manned platforms the force already flies and will fly later. Self-reliance here was described at the event as an operational necessity rather than an aspiration.

The critical technology areas

Why it matters

Through steady engagement with industry, MSMEs, startups and academia, the Air Force wants faster innovation, collaborative development and emerging technology turned into usable operational capability. The aim stated is a domestic ecosystem able to support India's self-reliance in defence technology. For the exam the pairing to hold is the roadmap with Dronathon 2026 at Pokhran, and the outreach with Vigyan Bhawan.