India to host the IEEE Radar Conference for the first time as DRDO's LRDE says its radars can now track nano-drones

Radar is having a moment in Indian defence, and the country's main radar laboratory used a press meeting in Bengaluru on 2 November 2026 to make that clear. The occasion was an announcement that India will host the IEEE Radar Conference for the first time in the event's 47-year history. But the headlines came from what the head of DRDO's Electronics and Radar Development Establishment (LRDE), Sheikh Althaf, said about where Indian radar technology now stands: indigenous radars can detect and track even nano-drones, Indian engineers have built systems capable of tracking stealth platforms, and the next generation of radars is being designed around lessons learned from Operation Sindoor.

A first for India in the radar world

The IEEE Radar Conference (RadarConf) is one of the main international meetings for radar engineers and researchers, organised under the IEEE Aerospace and Electronic Systems Society. The 2027 edition will be held in Bengaluru in May 2027, at the Sheraton Grand in Whitefield. Local reports give the dates as 1 to 6 May; The Week reported 1 to 7 May. It will be the first time the conference is held in India, and also its first edition in Asia.

According to the organisers, the main programme will include 15 highly specialised sessions, with 231 experts set to present research papers. Reports differ on the deadline for paper submissions, with official-style listings giving 31 October 2026 and local press citing 30 November 2026, so prospective authors should check the conference website.

Hosting the conference is a recognition of how far India's radar community has come. Bengaluru, home to LRDE, Bharat Electronics Limited's radar divisions and a growing number of private electronics companies, is the hub of India's radar development.

What LRDE said about its radars

LRDE, a DRDO laboratory in Bengaluru, is responsible for many of the ground-based, naval and airborne radars developed in India. Speaking to reporters, Althaf said the laboratory is engineering its next-generation radar systems based on lessons from Operation Sindoor, the military operation India conducted against Pakistan in May 2025. The focus areas are detection accuracy, frequency agility, and resilience to electronic interference.

"India can detect and track nano-drones, and it has the radars to do that," Althaf said, according to The Week. He also said Indian radar engineers had developed systems capable of tracking stealth platforms, and that radar systems today have to work in a congested environment, a reference to the crowded electromagnetic spectrum of a modern battlefield, full of jamming, decoys and friendly and civilian signals.

Althaf also argued for cost-efficient radar systems. As small-drone threats multiply, he said, conventional high-power radar solutions could become increasingly expensive. The challenge is to build sensors cheap enough to deploy widely, not just a few high-end systems guarding the most important sites.

The drone problem and the Rs 50 answer

The same press interaction touched on the other half of the counter-drone equation: what to do once a drone has been detected. Althaf described laser-based weapons that could neutralise hostile drones at a claimed cost of about ₹50 per engagement, against drones costing around ₹50,000, according to UNI. His argument was that India cannot afford to rely on expensive missiles to destroy inexpensive drones.

That logic has become central to air-defence thinking worldwide. When an attacker can launch large numbers of cheap drones, using interceptor missiles that cost many times more than each target is unsustainable. Directed-energy weapons, guns with smart ammunition and electronic jamming are all being developed as cheaper alternatives, and each depends on radars that can find and track small, slow, low-flying targets reliably.

Lessons from Operation Sindoor

Operation Sindoor turned drones and air defence into a front-line concern for India's armed forces. The Army's air defence units engaged large numbers of incoming drones during the operation, and The Tribune has reported that the Army's vintage L-70 air defence guns, which played a key role in shooting down Pakistani drones, are to be fitted with a drone-specific fire control radar.

That experience has driven a wave of orders for counter-drone systems and short-range radars, and a push to make sure such systems are built in India. LRDE's comments suggest the lessons are now being built into the design of the next generation of sensors: radars that can pick out very small targets, hop frequencies to avoid jamming and keep working when the spectrum is crowded.

Why it matters

Radar is one of the core technologies of modern defence, and for decades India imported many of its most advanced systems. Indigenous radars developed by LRDE and produced by BEL and private partners now equip many of the armed forces' platforms, and the claims about nano-drone detection and stealth tracking, if borne out in deployment, would put Indian systems among the more capable in their class. The performance claims, it should be noted, come from LRDE's leadership and have not been independently verified.

Hosting RadarConf 2027 adds another dimension. It will bring the world's radar researchers to Bengaluru, give Indian engineers and companies a global stage, and support India's ambitions to export radars and electronic systems. For students and young engineers, it is a chance to engage with the frontier of a field that is becoming more important with every conflict.

What to watch

In the near term, attention will be on how quickly LRDE's next-generation radars move from development to trials and production, and whether the laser-based counter-drone systems Althaf described reach the field. In May 2027, the conference itself will show how India's radar research stacks up against the best in the world.

Sources

• The Week: India's next-gen radars to beat jamming, track stealth aircraft and nano-drones
• ETV Bharat: India to host IEEE Radar Conference for the first time in its 47-year history
• The Bengaluru Live: IEEE Radar Conference to be held in Bengaluru from May 1, 2027, first edition in India
• IEEE AESS: 2027 IEEE Radar Conference
• UNI: India can neutralise Rs 50,000 drones for Rs 50
• The Tribune: After key role in Operation Sindoor, Army's vintage air defence guns to have drone-specific radar