Investing $90 million in a new Hyderabad facility, JSW moves to strengthen India’s growing defence drone manufacturing landscape.
JSW Group announced a $90 million investment to establish an unmanned aerial systems manufacturing facility at the Maheshwaram electronics manufacturing cluster near Hyderabad. The project, led by JSW Defence, will produce the V BAT unmanned aerial system under a long term licensing and technology transfer partnership with US based defence technology firm Shield AI. The V BAT, a fixed wing vertical take off and landing intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance platform, is already in service with several global armed forces, including US Marine Expeditionary Units.
Manufacturing at the new facility is expected to begin by the last quarter of 2026. JSW said the investment will help build a local supply chain and create an advanced site for manufacturing, assembling and testing V BAT systems, enabling large scale production for the Indian Armed Forces and establishing India as a global hub.
Spread across 16 acres, the facility will have the capacity to produce 300 V BAT units annually and will include production, repair, testing and administrative infrastructure. The project is expected to generate more than 300 high value jobs. JSW Group’s Parth Jindal said the initiative will support an end to end unmanned aerial systems ecosystem in India and marks one of the most significant defence technology transfers to the country.
The initiative is part of JSW’s broader defence expansion, including ventures in special mobility vehicles and off road vehicles. The Group plans total investments of ₹12 crore across its defence portfolio, including ₹3.20 billion for technology transfer from Shield AI.
Telangana Industries Minister D. Sridhar Babu said the State aims to develop a strong defence and aerospace ecosystem and position Telangana as a national hub for unmanned systems and advanced manufacturing.
