Defence ministry seeks firms for Rs 15,000 cr high-altitude airship project

NEW DELHI: The defence ministry has invited domestic aerospace firms to design and develop Airship-based High Altitude Pseudo Satellites (AS-HAPS) under a Rs 15,000-crore program for the Indian Air Force to provide persistent intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) at significantly lower cost than satellites.HAPS are pseudo satellites that hover in the stratosphere at 20 km altitude (65,000 feet), well above commercial air traffic and weather systems. While some HAPS are fixed-wing aircraft, airship-based HAPS are lighter-than-air helium platforms that stay aloft for months at a time.Under the ‘Make-I' procurement category, the govt will fund up to 70% of prototype development costs, inviting Indian private aerospace firms to build these indigenous stratospheric surveillance platforms. According to the report, the project is being steered by the Directorate of Operations (Remote) of the IAF.The platform is expected to be steerable in flight and therefore these airships can be precisely repositioned over strategic areas of interest to provide continuous, real-time intelligence feeds. They will carry indigenous payloads, including long-range surveillance radars, optical cameras and electronic intelligence-gathering sensors.The airship will operate in the gap between high-altitude drones, which typically fly at around 12 km, and low-Earth orbit satellites orbiting 500-2,000 km above the planet. It will also relay data between ground networks and satellites. Hence, they will bridge the gap between conventional drones and satellites by providing persistent, months-long surveillance, electronic intelligence, and communication relays over hostile borders.The IAF is actively looking to partner with domestic aerospace and defence companies through initiatives like iDEX to field these capabilities. DRDO demonstrated the technology in May 2025, flying a payload-bearing prototype to an altitude of about 17 km over Madhya Pradesh.