Currently, the Indian Army utilizes a multi-layered air-defence gun network to counter low-altitude aerial threats. (Representational photo)
New Delhi: The Ministry of Defence has issued a request for information (RFI) for a next-generation air-defence gun system and ammunition for the Indian Army. This comes as the country’s military moves to address a threat environment in which electrically operated drones have replaced conventional aircraft as the primary low-altitude danger.
The RFI, which sets a vendor response deadline of June 11, follows operational experience from India’s Operation Sindoor against Pakistan in May 2025, during which adversaries on the western front deployed drones and swarm drones for both surveillance and strikes against civilian and defence installations. The document explicitly cites Sindoor as a driver of the requirement – an unusual acknowledgment in a procurement notice that underscores how quickly the conflict reshaped the Army’s equipment priorities.
The system being sought – designated ADG-NG, or air-defence gun (next generation) – must be capable of detecting, tracking, and engaging a wide spectrum of aerial threats autonomously, day or night, using an integrated electro-optical fire control system. Required targets range from fixed-wing aircraft, helicopters including those in a hover, and cruise missiles, to remotely piloted aircraft, precision-guided munitions, and rocket, artillery, and mortar threats.
The RFI also lists microlight aircraft, paramotors, paragliders, and aero models as designated targets – a direct response to the use of commercially available and improvised platforms in recent conflicts.
The gun must engage targets at ranges of 4,000 metres or more, at speeds up to 500 metres per second, at effective heights of at least 2,500 metres, and at a rate of fire no lower than 300 rounds per minute. The platform must be either vehicle-mounted or towed, and must support silent operation through onboard generator, battery, or mains power supply – a requirement that reflects the operational need to avoid acoustic detection in forward positions.
On ammunition, the Army requires the system to fire smart programmable rounds – pre-fragmented and proximity-fused – alongside standard high-explosive rounds with tracers. All rounds must carry a self-destruction capability, limiting collateral risk in populated or sensitive areas. The autoloader must allow reloading by no more than two personnel, and ammunition must have a shelf life of at least ten years, pointing to deployment in remote or logistically constrained locations.
The RFI specifies detection, recognition, and identification ranges for three benchmark targets: a DJI Mavic Pro 3 drone, representing the commercially available small-drone threat; a Cheetah helicopter, representing low-and-slow rotary-wing platforms; and a Rafale fighter jet, representing high-performance fixed-wing aircraft. The choice of the DJI Mavic Pro 3 as a reference target is telling – it is among the most widely available consumer drones in the world and has been used extensively in recent conflicts, including in Ukraine and in the India-Pakistan confrontation.
The system must carry indigenous content of at least 50 per cent, with emphasis on local manufacturing and technology transfer, placing the procurement within the broader framework of domestic defence production. It must also be modular, upgradeable, and capable of integration with the Army’s existing radar and navigation systems – a requirement that would ease induction without necessitating wholesale replacement of associated infrastructure.
India currently operates ageing air-defence gun systems, including the Soviet-era ZU-23-2 twin-barrelled 23mm autocannon, which lacks the fire control sophistication and engagement envelope demanded by the new requirement. The ZU-23-2, while still in service, was designed for a threat environment dominated by fast jets and helicopters and is poorly suited to engaging small, low-signature drones at close range.
The drone threat crystallized for the Army during Operation Sindoor, when Pakistan-linked actors deployed unmanned systems in numbers and configurations that exposed gaps in India’s short-range air-defence coverage. The experience accelerated several procurement initiatives, of which the ADG-NG RFI is among the most visible.
