City-based Solar Defence and Aerospace Ltd. (SDAL) on Friday successfully demonstrated ‘Bhargavastra’, an indigenous, vehicle-mounted, multi-layered Counter-Swarm Drone System in presence of a special team of senior officers of Indian Army. SDAL, a wholly owned subsidiary of Solar Industries India Limited, demonstrated ‘Bhargavastra’ weapon system in its full configuration comprising a Command and Control Vehicle (CCV) equipped with radar, detectors integrated with the C4I (Command, Control, Communications, Computers, and Intelligence) system, along with a launcher vehicle carrying all the launch tubes. During the demonstration, the SDAL team flew a swarm of drones, which were successfully detected by the radar and detectors. The C4I system displayed the complete situational awareness picture and generated a drone attack alert. The launcher was then assigned the targets by the C4I system, and the complete firing sequence was successfully demonstrated to the visiting team. However, actual rocket firing was not carried out within the plant premises due to safety considerations. Engineered specifically for Indian operational conditions, ‘Bhargavastra’ is capable of deployment across deserts, plains and mountainous terrain up to 5,000 metres above mean sea level, providing reliable protection against aerial threats along the country’s entire land borders. The Command-and-Control Centre incorporates an advanced

 

C4I architecture integrating a radar capable of detecting (unmanned aerial vehicles) UAVs up to 10 km, an Electro-Optical/Infrared (EO/IR) surveillance system and passive radio frequency (RF) sensors. These sensors provide multi-layer target detection, tracking and classification, generating a comprehensive air situation picture and enabling operators to engage either individual drones or coordinated drone swarms. Unlike conventional soft-kill systems based on jamming or spoofing, ‘Bhargavastra’ provides an effective hard-kill solution against autonomous drones that are immune to electronic countermeasures. Recent conflicts — including Azerbaijan-Armenia, Russia-Ukraine and the ongoing conflict in West Asia — have demonstrated the unprecedented scale at which drones are now being employed, with more than 100,000 drones estimated to be used annually in active combat. Most of these threats continue to be neutralised using expensive surface-to-air missiles, resulting in an economically unsustainable cost exchange ratio. Recognising this emerging challenge several years ago, SDAL initiated development of

 

‘Bhargavastra’ as a cost-effective hard-kill solution capable of defeating both individual drones and large autonomous swarms. The system employs indigenously designed and developed unguided rockets and precision micro-missiles arranged in a multi-layer engagement architecture, providing a highly effective yet economical means of neutralising hostile UAVs. Expressing his views, Satyanarayan Nuwal, Founder and Chairman of Solar Industries India Limited, said the company is first among 14 private firms to demonstrate the system. “Bhargavastra is believed to be among the world’s first fully integrated, vehicle-mounted, multi-layer counter-swarm drone system employing unguided rockets and micro-missiles with dedicated swarm-neutralisation capability. This represents a significant milestone in India’s journey towards technological self-reliance in advanced air defence systems,” he added. The visiting team highly appreciated SDAL’s technological achievement and expressed satisfaction over it. ‘Bhargavastra’ weapon system has the potential of marking another significant milestone in India’s growing indigenous defence manufacturing capability.