Special Report: India advances military space ambitions through indigenous electronics development

ISRO launched the EMISAT electronic-intelligence satellite, developed in partnership with the DRDO, using its PSLV-C45 rocket in April 2019. (Press Information Bureau India)

India's state-owned Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) is prioritising research and development (R&D) of advanced electronics to support the Indian Armed Forces' expanding space requirements.

Speaking to Janes on 20 July, B.K. Das, director general of DRDO's Electronics and Communication Systems division, said the maturation of India's domestic defence industry has enabled the agency to shift its focus from developing military systems to advancing niche technologies, including those required for military space applications.

According to Das, these technologies are expected to enhance the Indian Armed Forces' surveillance, communications, and position, navigation, and timing (PNT) capabilities, while supporting the development of future military space capabilities.

Das reiterated this focus during a presentation at the IEEE Space 2026 conference in Bengaluru on the same day, outlining DRDO's near- and long-term R&D priorities for advanced space electronics.

Space defence

Das said that the modern battlefield is becoming increasingly contactless, autonomous, and information-centric, with space playing a key role in this transformation. Enhanced space capabilities can provide the Indian Armed Forces with a “strategic high ground”, as virtually every aspect of modern warfare, including precision-strike operations, depends on space-based assets, he added.

“Future conflicts may begin not with kinetic strikes, but with attempts to blind, isolate, and paralyse an adversary's space infrastructure before a single shot is fired on the ground,” Das said.

The first targets in future conflicts will be PNT satellites, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) constellations, satellite communications networks, and missile warning satellites, he said.

To address these challenges, DRDO is focusing on technologies designed to improve the resilience and effectiveness of India's military space assets.