India Tests Deadly New UAV Missile | ULPGM-V3 Can Destroy Tanks, Drones & Air Targets

Ajouté : 2026-05-21

[00:00:00]India has achieved another major milestone in indigenous defense technology with DRDO successfully completing the final development trials of the ULPGMB-3, the unmanned aerial vehicle launched precision guided missile. The advanced missile was tested in both air-to-ground and air-to-air modes at the DRDO test range near Kurnool in Andhra Pradesh.

[00:00:19]The trials validated the missile's capability to engage enemy's tanks, drones, helicopters, and airborne targets with high precision using UAV platforms. The system was operated through a highly automated ground control system designed for command, launch, and combat readiness operations.

[00:00:36]India's latest indigenous precision strike weapon has now demonstrated the ability to operate in multiple battlefield scenarios. DRDO validated both offensive ground strike missions and aerial interception roles during the trials. The missile was integrated onto UAVs developed by New Space Research and Technologies, Bengaluru, showcasing growing synergy between India's defense startups, private industry, and DRDO ecosystem.

[00:01:03]The ULPGMB-3 has been developed by DRDO's Research Centre Imrat along with DRDL, TBRL, and HEMRL labs. Bharat Dynamics Limited and Adani Defence Systems have partnered for the production. DRDO says that the missile has achieved a fully mature domestic supply chain with MSMEs and Indian industries playing a key role in developing manufacturing.

[00:01:28]The successful trials significantly strengthen India's future unmanned warfare capabilities. It gives Indian forces the ability to launch precision attacks from UAV platforms without exposing pilots or frontline assets to direct danger. Its dual-role capability also enhances India's preparedness against emerging drone warfare threats increasingly seen in modern conflict worldwide. The successful development marks another decisive step in India's push towards self-reliance in advanced defense technology at a time when drone warfare and precision guided systems are reshaping battlefields globally. India is rapidly building indigenous capabilities to match future combat requirements from anti-tank strikes to aerial interception missions. The ULPGM-3 reflects how India's defense ecosystem is moving from import dependence towards homegrown innovation and mass production readiness. On this issue, I'm joined by Group Captain V. K. Jha, senior scientist, former joint director, DRDO.

[00:02:23]Sir, your opening comments on this development, sir.

[00:02:28]A very good evening, Karthik.

[00:02:30]Uh look, this is the time for innovation and either any nation to sustain its relevance in the world today, innovates various technologies.

[00:02:48]Yes.

[00:02:48]>> Now, India also is no exception in this and luckily we have all the technologies which is required for mastery in the aviation, in the combat operations. And that is where our role, especially I'm talking of the DRDO.

[00:03:05]DRDO has been, you know, the master piece in entire, say, missile systems or the missile operations or the aerial combat platforms that we can see. Besides, of course, naval and army also we have got various labs which are doing a phenomenal job in this. But coming [clears throat] back to the opening address where you have said that this particular missile Mark 3 is having this success. Well, we had foreseen it long time back. Not that I'm I have been part or part and parcel of any such projects, but one such lab was in the neighboring building of me where I was working in the DRDO. And so even if I know something, you know, very intricate system, I won't be able to to speak here on on on the public platform, but then I have not much of idea what all are going on here. Coming back to this >> You're adding a lot of caveats, which means that I'm talking about the real stuff here, you know. I'm really talking about the cutting-edge work with the DRDO. The which means I've got the story right.

[00:04:08]Look, uh any missile system has got eight main systems. We call it propulsion, which has been very robust in India. Sir, you know for Sir, you know we we all of us have, you know, uh you know, uh grown up watching stuff like Terminator 2 and you know, latest Hollywood films where, you know, drones and missile capabilities have become one. Afghan theater demonstrated a sort of a different drone capability where America had actually suppressed, uh you know, the uh air feature of the enemy. So, you know, the Predators could, you know, loiter for hours and hours and hours and very easily could, you know, uh take down the targets. But these drones, which are very different, these are battlefield drones.

[00:04:59]Close combat drones. They they they bring a different dimension. I mean to say in a battlefield if these drones become operational, Indian drones, it means that it is going to empower our army so much. I mean to say you know, then you are not dependent on helicopters or aircrafts, then you can make close combat actually very lethal on a somber note for the infantry.

[00:05:26]Absolutely. Look, uh I think I've seen you, you know, talking to the the the walking dictionaries of who's who in military. And they have all told you and you have conveyed through your platform that the battlefield scenario is right now changing so rapidly that what uh And then were applicable, relevant, uh effective yesterday, may not be effective in the uh you know, day-to-day or or even tomorrow. So, what is happening is here here is that the UAV has made that entire battlefield change in a very rapid succession. And there that is where the role of uh Ukraine and Russia is the burning example.

[00:06:10]>> Yes. What uh drones they were effective in the beginning of the warfare, today it is no no more effective. They can be shot down you know, every left, right, and center. So, that is where it comes.

[00:06:22]And that is where I was trying to tell you that in the missile technology which I think it could be a suicidal drone, you know, kamikaze drone, or it could be a launch platform like what we have tested in the DRDO. That there is a drone. On that drone we have uh fitted the missile system, a very small, lightweight missile system, equally effective. Which can do the same uh role what aircraft born missiles are working. Scalp, Hammer, you know, you you keep on naming BVR missiles and everything. All those roles can be handled by these small drones in a very small thing. That is where I was trying to tell you that missiles, any missile, have got essentially eight the basic systems. Propulsion, what was there today for giving them the range, today there's a need for a modular propulsion.

[00:07:12]If I want to fire a missile from a drone platform which is 2 km or 3 km or 4 km, it need not have that 50 kg of you know, combustion system, propulsion system. Similarly, aerodynamic control, it becomes very intricate. Navigation control in 3D, that is the absolute necessity. And you know, in the aerial platform uh Pakistan, most of our time goes into certifying and the Q&A, quality and assurance of the particular system that we develop. I have gone through this. I have developed uh 12 systems. I know how painfully uh staking it is there. But, in the drone platform you don't have to have such a rigid uh certification what goes through the similar you know we have got the in the military we have got the similar center for military airworthiness that we have to prove for every system. Even a gun, a bullet, a missile, a rocket, you name anything. It has to be first certified to be fitted into that aircraft. But, aerial UAV will should have exception and the and the and the the policy makers, people who are behind the entire R&D, they should insist that here in is a platform where we don't have to waste so much of it is not a wastage of time.

[00:08:26]It is ensuring the quality uh it areas.

[00:08:29]But, but also sir, but also sir it will also have the capacity to overwhelm the system. Imagine if there are 100 such drones with 100 such mini missiles and you know, barely traveling 5 to 10 m above the ground.

[00:08:44]It can be overwhelming because even the radar signatures would become impossible. Absolutely. It would be It can fly just 10 m. It is a slow uh operating system.

[00:08:54]>> So, they become impervious to radars.

[00:08:56]It can It can fly 10 m, 20 m, 30 m above the surface uh avoiding the terrain, avoiding the treetops, and that is where it can be so effective it can overwhelm the entire system. And then to fit in those small UAVs, quadrocopter or or or or a fixed wing uh UAVs, you don't have to have such a uh you know, robust uh militarily certified systems.

[00:09:22]So, that is where comes the role of a missile system which can be made very uh you know, uh rapidly using our own system uh for the mini miniaturizing the system that we know of. Especially, you know, the navigation control, integrated computation system, guidance system.

[00:09:41]These are the three systems which are so costly. This alone costs about say about 70% of the entire missile.

[00:09:49]So, we can now now our own chips are coming up in the market likely to come in the market. So, over a time we can look into the entire area. We can make the systems these three systems navigation, ICS, and the guidance system. So, you know, useful low price that within You know, sir, I think the sorry I've run short of time, but I think the the meat of the story is in the indigenization. If you know, Iran can create a Shaheed, you know, you know, we we our tech system, our human resource system is far better than those countries, you know, and for this for a system like this, I think it should give Pakistan shivers, you know.

[00:10:28]If we have been able to indigenize a system like this, put it in operation, you know, then it should give Pakistan shivers. Uh, just take give me one sentence. Look, we should not go back to the Iranian technology. Iranian technologies are decade back. Right now, we have got the system which is operating today. You know, last time I had met you, I would have told you that we have we have been a part of a new system which is coming up in the drone technology. We have I have been you know, witness to that particular thing.

[00:10:58]Okay. We have given many suggestions.

[00:10:59]Here is a role of armed forces. That Mark 1, Mark 2, Mark 3 with the with the newest of the systems should be come subsequently, but what is readily available today, utilize that. Okay. You know, that is how today you meet the requirements of today, specifications. When we charter the specification, if any system meets us >> Absolutely, but I think it's a sir, it's a great achievement. I think it's a great achievement and it's a happy day.