NDTV Defence Summit 2026 - India's New Defence Edge, which is NDTV's flagship, high-level defence forum, is back again with a new edition. The one-day conclave will be held on September 27 and will bring together senior defence officials, military officers and industry leaders for a day-long event.
This year's summit centres on India's evolving defence edge: from the operational lessons of Operation Sindoor to the rapid integration of AI, drones, space capabilities and autonomous systems; from deeper jointness among the three services and stronger Atmanirbharta in defence manufacturing to new global partnerships and technology alliances.
The summit will feature addresses and discussions with the chiefs of the Army, Navy and Air Force, along with the Chief of Defence Staff and senior defence officials.
Rajnath Singh To Deliver Keynote Address
The programme will begin at 10:30 am with a welcome address by Shiv Aroor, Managing Editor, NDTV. This will be followed by the keynote address by Rajnath Singh from 10:35 am to 11:15 am.
At 11:15 am, Chief of the Army Staff General Dhiraj Seth will deliver a special address titled "Atmanirbharta in an Era of Transformative Wars". The session will continue until 11:45 am.
Threat Matrix And Fifth-Generation Warfare Sessions
From 11:45 am to 12:15 pm, the summit will feature Session 1: "The Threat Matrix: Rewriting India's Rules of Deterrence". The panel will include Dr Samir V Kamat, Chairman, Former DRDO and Secretary, Department of Defence, R&D; Ashish Kansal, Director and CEO, SMPP Limited; Rakesh Ojha, Director, Munitions India Limited; and Col. Jayaram M (Retd.), CEO, Kalyani Rafael Advanced Systems Pvt. Ltd.
The next session, "AI Takes the Field. Is Mankind still in Command?", will be held from 12:15 pm to 12:40 pm. The panel will feature Sameer Joshi, CEO, Newspace; Lt Gen Raj Shukla (Retd.), Former Army Commander; and Suresh Kamate, GM Aerospace & Defence Business, dSPACE India.
AI And India's Defence Innovation
From 12:40 pm to 1:10 pm, Air Marshal Tejpal Singh, AVSM, VM, Deputy Chief of the Air Staff, will deliver a special address on "Fifth Generation and Beyond".
From 1:15 pm to 1:45 pm, the next session "Building Bharat's Arsenal of Innovation: AI, Drones & Beyond" will feature Bodhisattwa Sanghapriya, Founder & CEO, IG Defence; Brigadier Devasheesh Chowdhury (Veteran), Senior GM, Zen Technologies; Veddika Dalmia, Director, Hyper Stealth Technologies Pvt. Ltd; Rear Admiral R Sreenivas, VSM (Retd.), Chief Executive Officer, Bondada Group; and Arvind Lakshmikumar, MD & CEO, TONBO Imaging.
Lunch will be from 1:45 pm to 2:20 pm.
India's Strategic Calculus And Defence Technologies
From 2:20 pm to 2:45 pm, Pankaj Saran, Former Dy. NSA and current NSAB, will take part in a fireside chat titled "Faultlines & Firepower: India's Strategic Calculus".
From 2:40 pm to 3:00 pm, Session 6: "Beyond Assembly to Autonomy: Securing India's Core Defence Technologies" will feature Tapan Rishi Bhatnagar, COO, SAAB FFVO India.
From 3 pm to 3:10 pm, Rafal Modrzewski, Co-Founder & CEO, ICEYE, will take part in a fireside chat on "Space and Sovereignty".
Indo-French Partnership And India's Space Race
From 3:10 pm to 3:30 pm, Lieutenant General Dominique Tardif, Vice Chief of the French Air and Space Force, will take part in a fireside chat on "The Evolution of airpower and the Indo-French Partnership".
From 3:30 pm to 3:45 pm, Puneet Kaura, MD & CEO, Samtel Avionics, will participate in a fireside chat titled "The Next Big Leap: Space, Avionics and the Future of Indian Defence".
From 3:45 pm to 4:00 pm, Pawan Chandana, Founder of Skyroot Aerospace, will take part in "Ignition: India's Race to Own Space", a presentation followed by a Q&A.
Maritime Future And Rocket Propulsion
From 4:00 pm to 4:30 pm, Admiral Krishna Swaminathan, PVSM, AVSM, VSM, Chief of the Naval Staff, will deliver a special address followed by a fireside chat on "Commanding the Maritime Future".
From 4:30 pm to 5:00 pm, Saurav Jha, CEO, D-Propulse, will participate in a fireside chat on "THE NEED FOR SPEED: India's Rocket Propulsion Playbook".
Building India's Defence Edge
From 5 pm to 5:20 pm, a fireside chat will be held with Denis Alipov, Russian Ambassador to India, on "The Next Chapter of India–Russia Defence Ties ".
A session will then be held on "Strategy to Capability: Building India's Defence Edge". The fireside chat will feature Rajesh Kumar Singh, IAS, Defence Secretary, Secretary DDR&D and Chairman DRDO (Additional Charge).
Chief Of Defence Staff To Close Summit
The final session, "Commanding Tomorrow's Battlefield – The India Vision", will be held from 6:00 pm to 6:30 pm. General NS Raja Subramani, PVSM, AVSM, SM, VSM, Chief of Defence Staff, will take part in the fireside discussion.
The summit will conclude with closing remarks and a vote of thanks.
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