Overview
- DRDO handed the Final Operational Clearance certificate to the IAF on Thursday, June 25, 2026, formally clearing the Netra system for full operational and combat use.
- Netra pairs an AESA radar, IFF, mission computers, electronic support measures and secure communications on an Embraer EMB-145 to detect, track and share air and surface threats over long ranges.
- Officials said the platform has already been used operationally in the 2019 Balakot strikes and in Operation Sindoor in 2025, where it provided real-time situational awareness and battle management.
- The Cabinet Committee on Security has approved further expansion, including additional Netra Mk-1A and Mk-2 aircraft, and DRDO and IAF leaders stressed that India owns the system software, source code and interface documents to enable domestic upgrades.
- Leaders dedicated the FOC to eight personnel who died in the 1999 Airborne Surveillance Platform crash and described the milestone as a payoff for decades of DRDO, IAF and industry collaboration that advances India’s self-reliant airborne surveillance capability.