A delayed takeoff

Concerns remain about India's ability to deploy a MALE UAV soon

6 min read

Updated On: Aug 10 2026 | 6:40 AM IST

The indigenously developed short-range Archer UAV provides support in intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition and reconnaissance purposes (PHOTO BEL)

After more than a decade of struggling to field an indigenous medium altitude long endurance (MALE) unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), India is preparing to take another shot with Archer-Next Generation (Archer-NG), a MALE-UAV being built on the previous failed Tactical Airborne Platform for Aerial Surveillance (TAPAS) programme.

Developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), the platform has completed its maiden flight and initial taxi and user trials, with weapon integration planned over the coming years. The final user-trials are expected to be completed by 2030.

It is designed to carry out intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) missions and has the ability to launch precision-guided munitions from an altitude of up to 30,000 feet, somewhat similar to the height at which commercial airlines fly. It can stay airborne for up to 30 hours and carry around 350 kg of payload while operating through satellite communications. The platform covers all the parameters which its predecessors couldn’t achieve fully.

As the TAPAS programme failed to meet endurance, altitude and payload, it was removed from “mission-mode” projects in 2024. However, the larger question remains: What has changed with Archer-NG and will it meet the operational needs?

The flying radar

Experts note that the answer lies not only in technology, but also in how India develops and inducts such platforms.

Air Marshal Ravi Kapoor (retired), former Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Central Air Command, believes that Archer-NG has the same foundation as its predecessor.

“The engine remains largely the same, the airframe philosophy is similar and while lessons from TAPAS have certainly been incorporated, the basic engineering challenges remain,” Kapoor said.

“If you are increasing payload by adding weapons while expecting higher endurance and higher operating altitude, those objectives begin to contradict each other unless there is a significant improvement in propulsion, fuel efficiency and weight reduction,” he explained.

These challenges need to be addressed as Archer-NG is expected to evolve from an ISR UAV into an armed platform.

“Developing an ISR platform is only the first step. Weaponising a UAV is a different challenge because it requires integration of weapons, targeting solutions, secure data links, SATCOM, backup communications and the complete kill chain that enables the UAV to detect, identify and engage targets seamlessly,” Kapoor added.

In other words, the challenge is beyond flight performance as every sensor, communication link and weapon must work seamlessly within the armed forces larger network, requiring years of integration and certification.

Yet, the expert believes that Archer-NG should not be judged solely on whether it achieves the original endurance target or not.

“Even if Archer-NG does not achieve the originally envisaged 30-hour endurance, a platform delivering 24 hours of persistence can still provide operational value if fielded in sufficient numbers,” he said.

He argued that the quality of onboard sensors, secure communications and the platform’s ability to operate as part of a wider battlefield network may ultimately determine its usefulness.

The battlefield, however, is also changing rapidly. Conflicts in Ukraine and West Asia have demonstrated both the value and vulnerability of conventional MALE drones.

However, these slow-moving platforms, with speed of about 180-450 km/h (95-250 knots), operating in contested airspace have increasingly become targets of modern air defence systems, raising concerns over their ability to remain a viable option over the next decade.

Today, several countries have operational MALE platforms for long endurance surveillance and strike missions, such as the United States’ MQ-9 Reaper, Israel’s Heron Mk I and Hermes 900, China's Wing Loong II, and Türkiye’s Bayraktar TB2. Archer-NG is expected to join the similar class, though experts say its relevance will depend on how quickly it enters service and adapts to the rapidly evolving nature of aerial warfare.

While questions remain over Archer-NG’s technical evolution, industry believes the larger concern lies elsewhere.

“What is missing is a framework for programmes that are already substantially developed,” Pankaj Akula, founder and group managing director, AKSI Aerospace Group, said, adding that rather than treating every new platform as a fresh programme, India should focus on accelerating technologies that are already matured. That, he argued, requires a different development model.

“Instead of handing a nearly complete programme to a single production agency, allow multiple private companies to develop the same baseline platform, backed by performance-linked incentives and assured procurement,” Akula said

He added that such competition could significantly reduce certification timelines while retaining technologies already developed by the DRDO.

According to Akula, India already has mature capabilities in airframes, flight-control systems, avionics and electro-optical payloads, but lacks a collaborative framework that allows private industry to accelerate semi-developed programmes. He described propulsion as the most persistent technology gap that affects a programme.

He also pointed to limited access to national testing infrastructure and certification facilities which are difficult to access by private companies.

“Private companies cannot realistically replicate national aerospace infrastructure such as wind tunnels, specialised laboratories or large testing facilities. These are national assets built with public investment,” Akula said.

Talking about shortening of development timelines, Kapoor said, “If Archer-NG takes another decade to enter service, there is a real possibility that it will be technologically behind the operational environment it is expected to serve.”

He said the growing shift towards stealthy unmanned systems, manned-unmanned teaming and highly networked operations has made conventional MALE UAVs increasingly vulnerable in contested airspace.

Rather than pursuing a decade-long development cycle, he said India should induct a capable base-level ISR platform and continue improving it incrementally, while simultaneously investing in more advanced systems such as the stealthy Ghatak unmanned combat aerial vehicle.

He stressed that MALE UAVs will continue to have a role in India's force structure as part of a larger ecosystem, covering on-demand persistent ISR for the armed forces.

“It will extend from small tactical drones at the unit level to MALE and HALE UAVs, airborne early warning aircraft, high-altitude pseudo-satellites operating in the stratosphere and space-based systems. You cannot keep every asset over the same place all the time, so persistence comes from integrating these different layers into a single surveillance network,” he explained.

It remains to be seen whether Archer-NG is developed and inducted in a timely manner or successive delays will continue to push the armed forces towards foreign platforms such as the Heron, Searcher and MQ-9B. The question also remains on India’s approach towards indigenous unmanned systems.

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Written By :

Martand Mishra

Martand Mishra has started his reporting career with defence coverage. He is a graduate of the Indian Institute of Mass Communication. He enjoys reading books on defence, history and biographies.