The Indian Navy has awarded a sizable contract to Bangalore-based defense technology firm Tonbo Imaging to design and implement a high-power microwave (HPM) system as part of the ADITI 3.0 innovation program.
The Ministry of Defence’s Defence Innovation Organization (DIO) and iDEX (Innovations for Defence Excellence) both support the deal. With Tonbo Imaging becoming one of the few private companies in the world with in-house HPM technology, this is a significant turning point in India’s directed-energy weapons development.
According to the agreement, Tonbo Imaging will be in charge of system integration and commissioning. After the system passes development, validation, and acceptance testing, many production units are anticipated to follow.
HPM systems are classified as directed-energy weapons, which degrade or destroy targets using concentrated electromagnetic energy instead of traditional projectiles. These systems are especially useful against drone swarms because they may disable the electronics of unmanned aerial vehicles, sensors, and communications equipment without physically destroying them.Briefs on Defense PolOnly a few nations are known to use sophisticated HPM systems worldwide, including the US, China, Russia, and the UK. Although the technology is technically challenging and strategically sensitive, it provides a cheap cost-per-shot substitute for traditional air defense systems, which are frequently unsuitable for combating huge numbers of low-cost, well-coordinated drones.
icyThe necessity of creating such solutions has been highlighted by the growing usage of drone swarms in wars like those in the Middle East and Ukraine, particularly for naval forces that confront particular difficulties in defending ships and marine assets.
Arvind Lakshmikumar, managing director and CEO of Tonbo Imaging, emphasized that the company has spent years developing homegrown HPM technology, especially vacuum tube sources, which are the high-power RF emitters at the heart of HPM weaponry.
In order to get the deal, he emphasized that Tonbo possesses fundamental intellectual property in vacuum tube technology. According to Lakshmikumar, vacuum tube-based sources are still the only feasible way to provide the high peak power and pulse energy levels needed for HPM systems to successfully engage targets.
On the other hand, solid-state RF substitutes, which are extensively utilized in communications and radar, are currently unable to reach these thresholds within practical weight and size limitations for operational deployment.
Although directed-energy weapons, such as laser-based systems for counter-drone applications, have been independently developed by the Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO), the choice to include a private company through a structured innovation framework indicates a broadening of the approach. This aligns with the government’s Atmanirbhar Bharat initiative, which emphasizes private sector involvement.
The naval deal further solidifies Tonbo Imaging’s repositioning as a systems integrator for sophisticated defense platforms. In recent years, the company has expanded into loitering munitions and counter-unmanned aerial systems (C-UAS).
As part of a larger modernization program, the Indian Navy has been gradually boosting its investments in electronic and non-kinetic combat capabilities. The introduction of HPM systems will strengthen India’s domestic directed-energy weaponry capabilities while giving the Navy a state-of-the-art weapon to combat new aerial threats, especially drone swarms.
