Navy Says Indigenisation Contracts Have Crossed ₹1,900 Crore, Names Quantum Positioning and Ramjets Among Its Next Bets

The Indian Navy has set out where it wants Indian innovators to work next. It also gave a progress report on the money it has already committed to them.

At a press briefing in New Delhi on Monday, 19 October 2026, ahead of the Navy's annual innovation and indigenisation seminar Swavlamban 2026, Vice Chief of the Naval Staff Vice Admiral Ajay Kochhar said the Navy has concluded contracts worth more than ₹1,900 crore for indigenous technology projects. Acceptance of Necessity (AoN), the first formal approval step in Indian defence procurement, has been given to projects worth more than ₹3,500 crore.

He also named the next set of technologies the Navy wants built in India: quantum positioning systems, high-power microwave directed-energy systems, extra-large autonomous underwater vehicles, and indigenous ramjet engines for fixed-wing aircraft.

The numbers behind the drive

Most of the Navy's start-up and MSME pipeline runs through Innovations for Defence Excellence (iDEX), the Defence Ministry's challenge-based scheme that funds prototypes from start-ups and small firms. Vice Admiral Kochhar said:

• The Navy has received more than 4,000 proposals from Indian innovators through iDEX.
• About 150 MSMEs and start-ups are taking part.
• AoN has been given for projects worth more than ₹3,500 crore, and contracts worth more than ₹1,900 crore have been concluded.

The gap between AoN and signed contracts shows a familiar pattern in Indian defence innovation. Getting a prototype approved is easier than turning it into a firm order. Each rupee that moves from the AoN column to the contract column means a young company gets revenue rather than only a validated idea. The briefing suggests that conversion is happening, though more slowly than the pipeline is growing.

Quantum positioning: navigating without GPS

The most notable item on the list was quantum. Vice Admiral Kochhar said the Navy has defined requirements in three quantum fields: positioning, detection and communications.

On positioning, he was specific about why the Navy wants it. He said the Navy wants to be able to operate in a GPS-denied environment and to hold an accurate fix on its position for a long period. He declined to say how long. The Week linked the timing of these comments to wider concerns about relying on satellite navigation and foreign satellite services.

The reason is simple. A warship or submarine that loses satellite navigation, whether to jamming, spoofing or a satellite outage, falls back on inertial navigation. Conventional inertial systems drift over time, so position errors grow until the vessel gets a fresh external fix. Quantum inertial sensors use clouds of atoms cooled to near absolute zero, which become extremely sensitive to movement and acceleration. They promise far lower drift, so a vessel could stay accurate for much longer without GPS. Navies in the UK, US and Australia are trialling such systems. The Indian Navy has now formally listed it as a requirement for Indian developers.

This links directly to the National Quantum Mission, the ₹6,003.65-crore government programme running to 2031, which has a dedicated hub for quantum sensing and metrology. A defined naval requirement gives Indian quantum-sensing start-ups something they have mostly lacked: a demanding first customer with a real operational problem.

Directed energy, big underwater drones and ramjets

The other three areas reflect how naval warfare is changing:

• High-power microwave (HPM) directed-energy systems send bursts of electromagnetic energy to disable electronics. Their main appeal is against swarms of cheap drones, where firing a missile at each target is too costly.
• Extra-large autonomous underwater vehicles are uncrewed submarines that can stay out for long periods for surveillance, mine countermeasures or seabed survey. They extend the Navy's reach without putting crews or crewed submarines at risk.
• Indigenous ramjet engines for fixed-wing aircraft are air-breathing engines that can sustain high speeds. They are the core technology behind long-range, high-speed missiles and aerial targets, a field in which India has so far depended heavily on collaboration.

None of these has an off-the-shelf Indian solution today. By naming them, the Navy is telling start-ups, MSMEs and larger private companies where future iDEX challenges and procurement money are likely to go.

Swavlamban 2026

The briefing was a curtain-raiser for the fifth edition of Swavlamban, to be held on 26 and 27 October 2026 at the Manekshaw Centre in New Delhi. The seminar has grown quickly. Its first edition drew about 800 participants, and nearly 3,000 attended last year. More than 100 exhibition stalls are planned this year. Swavlamban is where the Navy shows its indigenisation roadmap, launches new innovation challenges and meets the companies building the technology.

Vice Admiral Kochhar took over as the Navy's 48th Vice Chief on 29 May 2026. Separately, Business Standard reported that he said naval platforms worth ₹2.41 lakh crore have received AoN and that a request for proposals has been issued for four landing platform docks. That points to large shipbuilding programmes alongside the smaller innovation contracts.

Why it matters

India's naval indigenisation story is usually told through hulls: aircraft carriers, destroyers and submarines built in Indian shipyards. The harder part of self-reliance is in what sits inside those hulls: sensors, navigation, weapons and propulsion. The October briefing points to that next layer.

For India's deep-tech ecosystem, the message is concrete. The Navy has money committed, a pipeline of more than 4,000 ideas, and a named list of frontier problems in quantum sensing, directed energy, autonomy and propulsion. Start-ups working in these areas now have a clear naval customer. The test, as with every iDEX cohort, will be how many of these prototypes become production orders in the next two to three years.

Sources

• Outlook India: https://www.outlookindia.com/national/indian-navy-indigenisation-drive-swavlamban-2026
• The Week: https://www.theweek.in/news/defence/2026/10/19/amid-starlink-flare-up-indian-navy-vice-chief-says-quantum-positioning-work-is-on.html
• RNA Media: https://www.rnamedia.in/navy/swavlamban-2026-navy-turns-to-quantum-positioning-and-ramjets-as-idex-proposals-cross-4000-vice-chief-says/24661
• The Statesman: https://www.thestatesman.com/india/indian-navys-swavlamban-2026-to-focus-on-advanced-technologies-faster-induction-of-indigenous-systems-1503652897.html/amp
• Business Standard: https://www.business-standard.com/external-affairs-defence-security/news/naval-platforms-worth-2-41-trn-accorded-aon-rfp-out-for-four-lpds-vcns-126101900918_1.html
• The CSR Journal: https://thecsrjournal.in/indian-navy-signs-contracts-worth-rs-1900-crore-to-enhance-indigenous-defence-technologies-ahead-of-swavlamban-2026-seminar-in-new-delhi
• NewsBytes: https://www.newsbytesapp.com/news/india/indian-navy-signs-over-rs1900cr-indigenous-defense-tech-contracts/tldr