India’s first private-sector navigation innovation hub was established when ISRO Chairman V Narayanan opened Ananth Technologies’ Ananth Centre of Excellence for Navigation (ACEN), named after Ananth Technologies, in Thiruvananthapuram.
This breakthrough represents a significant step toward India gaining complete autonomy in crucial navigation technology, an area essential to space exploration, defense, and civilian infrastructure. Senior representatives from academic, defense, and space organizations attended the occasion, underscoring the initiative’s strategic significance.
Known for its proficiency in precise sensors, airworthiness procedures, and system integration for satellites and launch vehicles, Ananth Technologies was founded in 1992 and has played a significant role in important ISRO and DRDO projects.
The accuracy and effectiveness of missiles, aircraft, ships, and satellites are supported by navigation, which is referred to as the invisible backbone of contemporary defense and civilian systems. The necessity for indigenous capabilities was highlighted by previous experiences that exposed strategic vulnerabilities resulting from reliance on foreign GPS during conflicts.
A fundamental difficulty ACEN wants to address is the maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO) of navigation systems in defence platforms, many of which now depend on proprietary foreign manufacturers.
Due to this, India has been compelled to send defective units overseas, which has affected operational preparedness and caused delays. ACEN is created as a strategic hub to build and evolve next-generation navigation and inertial technology domestically, thus removing foreign dependence.
The goal of ACEN is to attain full-spectrum autonomy through the development of indigenous sensors, AI-driven navigation fusion, and increased use of the NavIC system in both the military and civic sectors, all of which are in line with India’s Vision 2035. A key component of its work is cooperation between business, academia, and scientific institutions.
In order to contribute significantly to the Atmanirbhar Bharat initiative and national strategic sovereignty, India hopes to have built robust, reliable, and internationally competitive navigation systems across defense, aerospace, and civilian platforms by 2035.
By removing imports and promoting domestic manufacture, this new facility is anticipated to drastically cut costs, ultimately bolstering India’s operational and technological independence in navigation systems.
ISRO Chairman Narayanan expressed hope that by 2047, private sector involvement, such as Ananth Technologies’ effort, would boost India’s navigation technology capabilities and promote the nation’s larger aim of advanced technical growth and self-reliance. The
