By A Correspondent

Kanpur (Uttar Pradesh): Adani Defence and Aerospace has unveiled one of the most ambitious expansion plans in India’s private defence sector, announcing that it will triple its investment and scale up capacities across ammunition, drones, missiles, and energetics to make India “100% indigenous” in critical military supplies.

With an order pipeline worth USD 1.2 billion to USD 1.5 billion and capex rising to INR 15,000 crore, the company is positioning itself at the centre of India’s fast-growing defence industrial base.

What is Adani’s biggest defence push for self-reliance?

The biggest push comes in ammunition manufacturing, where Adani plans to double small-calibre production to 300 million rounds by mid-2025 and rapidly scale to its full capacity of 500 million rounds from the 300 million rounds that it would achieve by mid-2026.

The company, which already meets 25% of India’s ammunition demand, now wants to supply all domestic requirements across the armed forces, CAPFs, state police, and special forces, according to the company’s top executives.

The scale-up includes large-calibre ammunition production beginning early 2026 with an annual capacity of 300,000 rounds and medium-calibre lines coming online in January 2027 with an annual capacity of 8 million rounds.

In parallel, Adani is building critical plants for primers and propellants — key explosive materials in short supply worldwide — to end India’s dependence on imports by 2028.

Senior executives, who were talking to Indian media representatives visiting Adani’s Kanpur plant, say the group has already invested INR 5,000 crore and will pump in another INR 10,000 crore across multiple defence lines.

“We have very aggressive timelines,” Adani’s land systems head Ashok Wadhawan said, emphasising that the priority is domestic capability, not commercial returns.

What is Adani’s ammunition megacomplex in Kanpur?

At the heart of the expansion is Adani’s sprawling Kanpur manufacturing campus, now scaled up to 750 acres inside the Uttar Pradesh Defence Corridor.

The site produces small-calibre ammunition and will soon integrate medium-calibre, large-calibre, primers and propellants, enabling full backward and forward integration.

The company currently runs a 150-million-round annual line, scalable to 500 million rounds, covering cups, cases and projectiles. Once the energetics plants come online, Adani says India will never need to import ammunition components again.

How are global shortages accelerating localisation?

Wadhawan revealed that global shortages, especially in Europe due to the Russia-Ukraine war, have pushed several foreign suppliers to delay or decline shipments of energetics. This supply crunch accelerated Adani’s move to indigenise propellants and primers.

“There is a huge shortage globally. Some countries said no, so we developed the product in India in nine months,” he said. The only major domestic supplier today is the state-run Munitions India Limited, which itself faces capacity constraints.

What are Adani’s plans on drones, loitering munitions, and EW systems?

While Kanpur focuses on ammunition, Adani’s Hyderabad plant, spread over 20 acres, is being rapidly upgraded to produce unmanned systems, electronic warfare suites, and loitering munitions.

These systems gained prominence after their extensive use by Indian forces during India’s May 2025 Operation Sindoor to target terror camps and military bases inside Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. Adani-supplied drones and counter-drone systems reportedly played a major role during that military operation.

Demand for drones, loitering munitions, and EW systems has surged following global conflicts — from Gaza to Ukraine — reinforcing the company’s strategic focus areas.

Adani is additionally pursuing capabilities in Unmanned Underwater Vehicles, artillery systems, missile technologies, and advanced energetics.

How are Adani’s R&D partnerships, technology transfers growing?

Adani Defence is strengthening collaborations with DRDO under a design-cum-production model and is actively engaging with technology partners in France, Israel, Russia, and other countries, but only with firms willing to enable manufacturing in India.

It has also hired over 400 armed forces veterans to accelerate product development across small arms, ammunition, drones, and EW systems.

Company’s executives emphasise that group chairman Gautam Adani’s directive for the defence arm is clear: this is a national capability mission, not a purely profit-driven venture.

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