India Quietly Works On Homegrown Sheshnaag-150 As US And Iran Launch Suicide Drones

As the world watches Iran's Shahed-136 low-cost suicide drones and America's own Shahed-inspired LUCAS drones exact disproportionate damage on the battlefield for a fraction of the cost of conventional weapons, India's own answer to this class of warfare, the Sheshnaag-150, is quietly but steadily making headway in development testing.

The long-range swarming attack drone, built from scratch by Bengaluru-based defence startup Newspace Research Technologies (NRT), first flew a year ago. But in the wake of Operation Sindoor, during which NRT was called upon by the Indian military to deploy some of its other drone capabilities at the warfront, the urgency around a mature, home-grown, long-range swarming strike capability has sharpened dramatically. What was once a promising internal development program is now viewed through a far more operationally urgent lens.