L&T Teams Up with General Atomics to Build Combat Drones in India

By siliconindia | Friday, 31 October 2025, 06:02 Hrs

L&T and General Atomics team up to produce Medium Altitude Long Endurance (MALE) drones in India.
Partnership to support the Ministry of Defence’s 87 MALE RPAS programme.
Collaboration aims to boost India’s self-reliance in aerospace and defence technologies.

Larsen & Toubro (L&T) has entered into a strategic alliance with US-based General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. (GA-ASI) to manufacture combat-proven Medium Altitude Long Endurance (MALE) Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems (RPAS) in India. The collaboration aims to strengthen the country’s defence capabilities and promote indigenous drone production for the Indian armed forces.

As part of this partnership, L&T will be the prime bidder for the Ministry of Defence’s upcoming 87 MALE RPAS programme, with GA-ASI serving as the technology partner. These advanced MQ-series drones by GA-ASI are already in operation worldwide, accumulating millions of flight hours in intelligence, surveillance, and precision strike missions.

L&T will leverage its expertise in engineering, precision manufacturing, and system integration, while GA-ASI brings decades of experience in unmanned aerial systems. The collaboration is expected to make India a hub for high-end drone manufacturing and further the 'Make in India' initiative in defence.

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S.N. Subrahmanyan, Chairman & Managing Director of L&T, said, “This partnership gives India a unique opportunity to build state-of-the-art unmanned platforms domestically. We are confident that this alliance will significantly strengthen our defence readiness and promote self-reliance in aerospace”.

L&T reported a 15.6% rise in net profit to Rs 3,926.09 crore in Q2 FY26, driven by a 10.4% growth in revenue to Rs 67,983.53 crore.