Divyastra Mk3: Lucknow defence startup tests India's first fully indigenous jet-powered loitering munition

On August 11, 2026, a sleek, unmanned aircraft roared down a designated testing airstrip in Uttar Pradesh, airborne on the power of an Indian-made jet engine for the very first time.

The successful maiden flight of the Divyastra Mk3 marks the first instance in India’s defence history where an indigenously designed, developed, and manufactured jet-powered loitering munition — fitted with a fully indigenous powerplant — has flown.

Developed by Lucknow-based defence startup Kawa UAV Pvt. Ltd. (HoverIt), headquartered in the Uttar Pradesh Defence Industrial Corridor, the platform transition from blank-page concept to fully airborne weapon system took under eight months.

The mission-capable powerplant driving the aircraft is a turbojet engineered entirely by DG Propulsion, an Indian propulsion technology company. During the trial, the engine met all pre-defined operational parameters, validating the country's growing capability to produce complex aerospace propulsion systems locally.

The achievement reflects a swift execution timeline, with the Divyastra Mk3 programme initiated at the start of 2026 before hitting the air in mid-August without reliance on foreign critical subsystems or imported jet engines.

“This is not merely a test flight — it is a declaration of intent. India has demonstrated, at scale and at speed, that it can conceive, engineer, and fly a jet-powered precision strike system entirely from within its own borders. Divyastra Mk3 is Atmanirbhar Bharat in action,” said the co-founders of HoverIt (Kawa UAV Pvt. Ltd.).

The milestone comes amidst a broader push across India’s military-industrial complex to scale up precision strike and autonomous air capabilities, placing the country among a select group of nations capable of domestically producing jet-powered loitering munitions.