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Air power · India

Air Force Atlas

Fighters and future combat aircraft, air-launched weapons, radar and avionics, and — decisively — the propulsion India does not yet own. Where each platform sits on the imported-to-indigenous ladder.

17 systems10 industry entities4 programmes6 dependencies53% indigenousUpdated 26 Aug 2026
Systems & platforms
17
mapped with lifecycle & origin
Industry entities
10
PSUs, JVs, private & foreign OEMs
Programmes
4
procurement, policy & indigenisation
Dependencies
6
scored industrial/technology gaps
Indigenous share
53%
of systems, by design origin
The decisive gap · Propulsion

Aircraft engines remain India's highest-value strategic industrial gap. A platform assembled in India is not sovereign while its engine is imported — this Atlas keeps the two separate.

GE AerospaceImported
GE F414 / India manufacturing pathwayTechnology-transfer pathwayDevelopment
Military propulsionMixed Indian + foreign
Military turbofan enginesMixed Indian + foreign
SafranImported
Indigenisation ladder
Indigenous (Indian design)6
Indigenous subsystem3
Licensed / assembled in India6
Technology-transfer pathway1
Imported1

Classified from country of origin. A platform built in India from a foreign design is shown as licensed/assembled — not indigenous.

Procurement & lifecycle pipeline
  • Operational6
  • Development6
  • AoN (Acceptance of Necessity)5
  • Tracked1
  • In production1
  • Policy1
  • Contracted1

Acceptance of Necessity (AoN) is kept distinct from a signed contract — an AoN is a demand approval, not an order.

Capability domains · 15
Emerging industrial opportunities · 4
  • Counter Uas S06S07
    Layered low-cost detection, RF sensing, EO/IR, command-and-control and effectors are expanding as a recurring procurement need.
  • Avionics S17
    LCA Mk1A localisation demonstrates a widening Indian avionics/content base, but advanced sensors and mission systems remain a strategic growth area.
  • Propulsion S17S18
    Aircraft engine dependence remains one of the highest-value strategic industrial gaps; future manufacturing and technology-transfer pathways are therefore high-priority.
  • Mro S18
    Growing indigenous aircraft and naval aviation fleets create long-duration demand for engine, sensor, weapon and airframe MRO.
One graph, not three directories. Every system, company and programme is a node in a single relationship-driven database — a supplier that serves the Army, Navy and Air Force appears once and is reached from each. Facts carry their primary source; draft policy (e.g. DAP 2026) is labelled as draft, not law. Methodology
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