The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has put EW (Electronic Warfare), digital twins and mission critical systems as the focus for its NETRA-2026 national seminar held in Bengaluru. As representatives from Armed Forces, DRDO, ISRO and industry and academia met on August 11 and 12 to deliberate over future battlespace-enabling technologies, emerging technologies like EW and RF systems, AI, next-gen radar, FPGA design, digital engineering, modelling and simulation took centre stage for discussion. These technologies are finding an increasing inter-relationship in present-day combat platforms where dominion of the electromagnetic spectrum is crucial in determining operational capability of not just sensors and communication, but also weapon systems.
In fact, electronic warfare, or EW, is playing an increasingly important role in a way in military activities since warfighting is getting to lean more and more towards combatting with and around networked systems, radar, and the use of wireless signals. EW includes the capability of using EM-spectrum visibility and analysis (EVS/A) and threat awareness, together with such capabilities as electromagnetic countermeasures (ECM). Providing digital models and mission-critical design can thus demonstrate how complicated networks can be tested without their being produced.
NETRA-2026 clearly indicates the DRDO’s emphasis on establishing technological building blocks to prepare for a network centric, AI-enabled and electronically contested battle scenario where informational and electromagnetic advantages are as significant as conventional firepower.
