India’s Indigenous Electronic Warfare Revolution

Integrated Electronic Warfare Project , launched under the visionary leadership of Army and DRDO, marked a turning point in India’s defence technology evolution. Conceived to replace imported Electronic Warfare (EW) systems with indigenous solutions, it became the foundation for Make in India and Atma Nirbhar Bharat.

This case study outlines the project’s genesis, design philosophy, challenges, solutions, and lessons learned — offering insights into how collaborative innovation between the Indian Army, DRDO, and industry partners shaped India’s EW capabilities.

The lessons learned during the development of this primal initiative towards indigenization of electronic warfare systems brought significant changes in Defence Acquisition Procedure from time to time. They also provided insight into changes that need to be incorporated into the flexibility that needs to be integrated in the rigid army structure if complex high tech programmes need to be developed to meet their operational requirements. It also highlighted that the DRDO had to fill gaps in their capability to carry out cutting edge design development to address the issue of sanctions and restrictions on sharing of technology by developed countries.