Bharat Forge and Pratt & Whitney Canada to Evaluate Turboprop Engines for DRDO's HALE UAV Programme

Key facts

• Bharat Forge and Pratt & Whitney Canada announced a collaboration to evaluate the integration of advanced turboprop engines into a High-Altitude, Long-Endurance (HALE) UAV being developed under a Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) programme.
• The partnership combines Pratt & Whitney Canada's propulsion technology with Bharat Forge's engineering and systems integration capabilities to support India's indigenous UAV push under Aatmanirbhar Bharat.
• In August 2026, India signed a $203 million, 30-month agreement with General Atomics to lease two MQ-9B Sea Guardian drones for the Indian Navy's maritime surveillance operations.
• India has more than 600 drone-related companies, including over 100 defence-focused firms, according to think tank Sphrical Insights.
• The Ministry of Defence has issued a Request for Information (RFI) to procure 2,715 logistics drones for the Indian Army, which would be the Army's largest-ever logistics drone procurement.
• In March 2026, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, addressing the National Defence Industries Conclave in New Delhi, said India must work in mission mode to emerge as a global hub for indigenous drone manufacturing.
• Unmanned aerial vehicles played a foundational role in Operation Sindoor, India's tri-service military response launched on May 7, 2025, following the Pahalgam terror attack, with Harpy, Harop and SkyStriker drones used to hit tactical positions, aircraft hangars and radar sites.
• India is moving towards domestic drone production through a ₹1,577 crore contract involving Tata Advanced Systems and NIBE, and a planned military drone procurement worth more than $2 billion from domestic firms.