Following Operation Sindoor, India's private defence technology sector is seeing a shift in how the armed forces engage with domestic manufacturers. The transformation is marked by faster procurement, greater private-sector participation, and renewed emphasis on developing critical military technologies domestically, according to industry executives.
At TechSparks 2026, Ankit Kumar, Co-founder and Chief Business Officer of Tonbo Imaging; Priyanka Singhal, Founder and CEO of Ammunic Systems; and Radhika P, Co-founder of Pinaka Aerospace; discussed how Indian private companies contributed to recent military operations and what the country must prioritise to prepare for the battlefield of 2035.
In a panel discussion titled 'War Room 2035: What technologies must India build for the battlefield' moderated by Adith Charlie, Managing Editor of YourStory and The CapTable, the founders pointed to growing opportunities for indigenous companies in night-vision systems, electronic warfare, smart munitions, and autonomous defence platforms.
Operation Sindoor and the private sector's growing role
Priyanka Singhal, Founder and CEO of Ammunic Systems, a defence R&D firm specialising in electronic fuzes and munition technologies, described Operation Sindoor as a turning point for the industry. “The operation was an eye opener,” she said, adding that it had exposed the limitations of traditional defence procurement cycles.
Singhal said Ammunic supplied loitering munitions and gravity-drop bombs during Operation Sindoor, working with drone platform partners to integrate its weapons into systems used in the operation. According to her, the armed forces have begun moving away from an excessive focus on procedural compliance towards deploying equipment that meets immediate battlefield requirements. Initiatives such as iDEX and emergency procurement mechanisms have helped accelerate the process, she said.
Radhika P of Pinaka Aerospace echoed this assessment. Previously, private defence companies often worked through defence public sector undertakings (DPSUs), the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), and other established channels. Following Operation Sindoor, she said, the armed forces had increasingly engaged directly with private companies, particularly in electronic warfare, avionics, and sensor technologies.
Radhika said Pinaka had contributed to the indigenisation of missile systems that were deployed during the operation. She argued that the effectiveness of military equipment increasingly depends on its payloads, including sensors and electronic warfare systems, rather than the platform alone.
“If there is an electronic countermeasure system, it can neutralise a platform which is probably 10 times more expensive,” she said, underscoring the strategic importance of developing indigenous payload technologies.
Kumar of Tonbo Imaging, which specialises in electro-optical and infrared technologies, said the shift towards indigenous defence procurement had begun even before Operation Sindoor, particularly following developments along India's eastern border. That had encouraged the armed forces to reduce their dependence on technologies sourced from countries sharing land borders with India.
Tonbo, which has spent nearly two decades developing indigenous imaging systems, was positioned to benefit from that shift, Kumar said. Its night-vision technologies have been deployed across several Indian military operations, including Operation Sindoor, when air-defence systems used the company's capabilities, he added.
Kumar said close engagement with the armed forces, including product trials and feedback from users, had helped Tonbo develop its technologies. “We've learned things the hard way. We've learned things on the ground. We've learned things with the customers,” he said.
What India must build by 2035
Looking towards 2035, Kumar said defence systems would increasingly move towards autonomy, reducing the need for direct human involvement in certain operations. He pointed to the potential use of autonomous systems in air combat and on the ground, including the possibility of humanoid robots supporting border operations.
As military platforms become more autonomous, sensors and intelligence will become critical to their ability to detect threats, interpret their surroundings and respond without constant human intervention.
“For autonomy, sensors, intelligence, both are very critical, very important,” Kumar said.
He argued that India had strengths in both areas, particularly in developing intelligence capabilities that can operate directly on military platforms. Such technologies, he said, could improve operational efficiency and reduce dependence on human operators, but they needed to be developed as sovereign capabilities rather than sourced from overseas suppliers.
“Intelligence, connectivity, sensing, these will be the mainstay of how the wars will be fought tomorrow,” he said.
For Radhika, a key battlefield priority is control over the electromagnetic spectrum, which underpins radar, communications, electronic warfare, and several other military capabilities. She argued that future military advantage would increasingly depend on how effectively forces detect, interpret and disrupt electromagnetic signals.
That also makes ownership of the underlying technology critical. Developing or assembling defence platforms in India is not sufficient if the software, electronics architecture and intellectual property remain controlled by foreign suppliers.
“It is very important to have good control on the source code, the board design, and things like that,” Radhika said.
She also emphasised that technology transfer should strengthen India's ability to develop and integrate systems independently, rather than create continued dependence on overseas suppliers. Control over intellectual property and systems integration would be especially important in reducing the risks associated with foreign supply chains, she added.
Closing the gaps in research and deployment
Singhal, meanwhile, called for greater integration across the three armed services.
She argued that the Army, Navy and Air Force needed better-connected platforms and weapons systems to coordinate effectively during emergencies. She also highlighted materials research as an area requiring greater attention.
Advanced materials would play an increasingly important role in developing next-generation weapon systems, including those requiring greater effectiveness and stealth capabilities. India, she said, needed to place more emphasis on materials R&D alongside investments in autonomous systems and other defence technologies.
The founders also identified persistent challenges in bringing together the armed forces, government research institutions and private industry. Singhal said startups and smaller defence companies could move faster than government research programmes, which often face bureaucratic delays.
Radhika said the challenge stemmed partly from differing expectations. The armed forces want sophisticated systems delivered quickly, research organisations operate through lengthy validation cycles and private manufacturers need commercially viable development timelines.
One way forward, she suggested, was to involve private industry from the prototype stage, with the armed forces funding development projects, research organisations working alongside manufacturers and clearer pathways to production orders.
She pointed to the Development-cum-Production Partner model as a mechanism that could help bridge the gap between research, development and large-scale manufacturing if implemented effectively.
For India's private defence technology industry, the next challenge is not simply to manufacture more equipment domestically. It is to develop and control the technologies that make military platforms effective, while building a procurement and research ecosystem capable of moving those technologies from the laboratory to the battlefield.