Engines of opportunity

Indigenous Nagastra-1, ALS-50 and JM-1 loitering munitions were confirmed to have seen combat during Operation Sindoor. The impact became visible in March 2026, when India’s Defence Forces Vision 2047 roadmap made provision for a dedicated drone force.

Defending against massed missile and drone strikes has proven an expensive prospect. Interceptor missiles, which underpin traditional air defence systems, carry a high cost that tilts unit economics towards the attacker. Mass precision — high-volume use of relatively cost-effective one-way attack drones and missiles, now also being expressly designed from the ground up to possess that attribute — will feature regularly in warfare going forward. A clutch of Indian private firms has caught onto this trend. To capitalise, these players are working on a key component they believe will either anchor their own development of such munitions or benefit from national demand for them.

Bharat Forge, already a private-sector player in artillery systems and armoured vehicles, has established a Gas Turbine Technology Development Centre in Bengaluru. At this centre in January 2023, it validated its indigenously designed and developed KGT-45, a 0.40-0.45 kN (kilonewton) small turbojet engine capable of operating up to 8-kilometre altitude. The company is also developing larger-thrust engines of up to 4 kN. 

“We own the intellectual property (IP) rights for both the engine and its control system,” said Rajinder Singh Bhatia, chairman of Kalyani Strategic Systems Limited. That firm is the defence business subsidiary of Kalyani Group’s Bharat Forge Limited. Bhatia, however, indicated that the goal went beyond simply developing small aeroengines. It lies in using them to power high-speed, long-range kamikaze (one-way attack) and loitering munitions, which the company is also building. “Our aim is to position ourselves as an original equipment manufacturer (OEM),” Bhatia added.

Engines powering combat aircraft often produce 60-130 kN of thrust, which an afterburner can raise to between 110 and 190. Typically generating an average thrust of 0.05-5.0 kN, micro and small jet engines, whether turbojet or turbofan, appear underwhelming by comparison. Yet it is these engines which power unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), loyal wingmen (uncrewed combat aircraft that will fly alongside human-piloted fighter jets), cruise missiles and high-performance one-way attack drones. This segment also appears to have witnessed greater indigenous success, whereas India has chosen foreign collaboration in building a high-thrust advanced aeroengine for its under-development stealth jet, the advanced medium combat aircraft.

Bharat Forge’s 4 kN target is no coincidence either. Designed and developed by Bengaluru-based Gas Turbine Research Establishment (GTRE) for propelling cruise missiles, the “Manik” Small Turbofan Engine belongs to a 3.90 kN thrust class. GTRE is a laboratory of the Defence Research and Development Organisation. In April 2024, Manik successfully powered the Indigenous Technology Cruise Missile, a long-range land-attack weapon.

Another player is Hyderabad-based Azad Engineering. In July, the company built and handed over India’s first indigenous 3.4 kN-class expendable turbojet engine. The design, however, was GTRE’s.

In August 2026, Kawa UAV Private limited (HoverIt), headquartered within the Uttar Pradesh Defence Industrial Corridor, announced its ‘Divyastra Mk3’ system’s successful maiden flight. Its release called it the “first-ever flight of a 100 per cent indigenously designed, developed and manufactured jet-powered loitering munition in

India…”. By Kawa’s account, it was also the first time any such munition “fitted with a fully indigenous Indian-made jet engine” had become airborne. Powering the Divyastra Mk3 is a turbojet designed and developed by Punjab-based DG Propulsion. Kawa’s release added that successfully validating it aboard Divyastra made DG Propulsion “the first Indian company to have its indigenous jet engine certified airborne on a domestically designed loitering munition”.

Reflecting a trend of munitions being developed alongside their engines, Hyderabad-based Paninian India Private Limited announced its Yantur 4.5 kN turbofan and turbojet programme in July 2026. Its engines are intended to power Paninian’s proposed “Svayatt-L1”

long-range land attack cruise missile. Paninian reportedly said the engine’s core could eventually be scaled to deliver 12.5 kN of thrust for loyal wingmen (collaborative combat aircraft). By July, according to Paninian, Yantur had completed its conceptual and detailed design phase. Subsystem testing and full-engine validation lay ahead. Paninian had also opened a $3 million fundraise.

Bengaluru-based startups Nabhdrishti Aerospace and DheyaTech, both players in the small gas turbine engine segment, have also raised funding.

No industry estimate exists, interestingly, of what domestic demand for such power plants is worth. The armed forces’ requirement for drones has been projected, yet it is once again difficult to estimate what proportion would be powered by micro or small jet engines. Even so, firms in the sector appear bullish on their prospects.

“We are in an era of war where standoff strike matters. Barring the power plant, India’s technology readiness level (TRL) for munitions such warfare requires is very high. That is where the business case comes in,” explained Saurav Jha, founder and CEO of defence propulsion startup