Science and Technology › Defence technology
हिन्दी — Read in HindiMilitary platforms, drones and new weapons
The platforms that carry military power: aircraft and their engines, ships and submarines, tanks and artillery, drones and counter drone systems, and directed energy and electronic warfare. Prelims has asked about fifth generation fighters, stealth and drone swarms.
Foundation note: Stealth: radar cross section and how to shrink it
UPSC has asked
- Prelims 2025: unmanned aerial vehicles, their landing, hovering and power
Showing 2 of 6 articles, those that changed from 1 to 30 June 2026.Show all
Airborne Early Warning and Control Mk II
Copy link to Airborne Early Warning and Control Mk IIPrelims and Mains
The Mk II is DRDO's airborne early warning aircraft built on a converted A321 airliner, with the radar and mission systems developed in India.
What changed
26 Jun 2026BriefDRDO handed the Final Operational Clearance of Netra, India's first indigenous airborne early warning and control system on the Embraer EMB-145, to the Indian Air Force (IAF) on 25 June. It came nine years after Initial Operational Clearance in 2017; Netra was developed by the Centre for Air Borne Systems and used at Balakot and in Operation Sindoor. Its indigenous active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar steers beams electronically and tracks many targets at once. The Hindu, 26 Jun 2026: Explained | Netra AEW&C: India's indigenous 'eye in the sky' that strengthens air power (opens in a new tab) · PIB, 25 Jun 2026: IAF gets Final Operational Clearance of indigenous Airborne Early Warning & Control system 'Netra' (opens in a new tab)
Show history (1 other update)
22 Jul 2026BriefDRDO's Centre for Air Borne Systems signed contracts to convert six A321 airliners into bare airframes and to build the radar and mission systems with an Indian private firm as development and production partner. PIB, 22 Jul 2026: DRDO inks two major contracts with Industry partners as part of AEW&C MK-II programme (opens in a new tab)
Fibre optic drones
Copy link to Fibre optic dronesPrelims and Mains
A fibre optic drone unspools a hair thin cable that carries all its control and video, so it emits no radio signal.
- Unlike ordinary drones, it resists jamming and spoofing; its only signature is its radar cross section, and its weaknesses are wind, rain and snapped cables.
- First person view (FPV) drones are flown through a live camera feed to the operator's goggles.
Types of drone
| Type | How it works |
|---|---|
| FPV strike | Flown through a live camera feed to the operator's goggles into the target, and lost with it |
| Bomber | Drops munitions and returns |
| Loitering munition | Waits over an area before striking |
| Fibre optic | Takes commands and sends video through a cable spooled out in flight, emitting no radio signal |
What changed
16 Jun 2026BriefThe wars in Ukraine, Lebanon and the US, Israel and Iran theatre have made mass produced commercial drones central to warfare, and Hezbollah adopted fibre optic drones. The Hindu, 16 Jun 2026: Drone revolution and modern warfare | Explained (opens in a new tab)
See also: AI, drones and autonomy in warfare