Kesari Aerial Systems Private Limited

In their own words

Kesari Aerial Systems is building India's first low-speed (100–200 km/h), piston-engine, threat-representative aerial target — KAT-LS 1.The threat: One-way-attack drones such as the Shahed-136 and modern loitering munitions operate precisely in this low-speed, piston-engine regime. India's air defence and counter-UAS units need a realistic target that flies and signatures like these threats — to qualify weapons, calibrate sensors, validate counter-UAS systems, and train operators.The gap: Every Indian aerial target today — Banshee 40+/80+, DRDO Abhyas, DRDO Lakshya — is a high-speed jet platform. No Indian company builds a low-speed, piston-engine target, and the only global equivalents (US FLM-136, Arrowhead MQM-172) are not exportable to India. This capability cannot be imported — it has to be built here.The product: KAT-LS 1 is an expendable target with configurable radar, thermal and acoustic signatures, so it mimics the actual threat profile — not just the flight path. With the SISFS grant, we deliver our first prototype flight within 6–8 months.Customers & opportunity: Army Air Defence, Navy, Air Force, DRDO labs and counter-UAS developers — each needing threat-accurate targets for weapon qualification, sensor calibration, C-UAS testing and operator training. Targets are consumables: demand recurs with every test firing and training serial, making this a durable, import-substitution market.Team: Founder Rohit Bisht has taken a 150 kg jet anti-radar decoy through DGAQA certification and led the aerodynamics on a 90 kg Banshee-class target (Anadrone Systems Limited). Technical Advisor K.P. Singh — former Chief Designer, HAL (Tejas, Su-30 MKI, Hawk, HJT-36), four decades' experience — provides oversight on full-vehicle engineering and qualification under MIL-STD, DGAQA and CEMILAC frameworks.Electrical / Avionics Engineer (hire): owns all on-board electrical systems — flight controller integration, power, wiring, datalink and signature-emulation payload electronics.Avionics & Flight-Systems (Consultant): senior oversight of the electrical and flight-control architecture and airworthiness — de-risking integration alongside the hands-on engineer.Design Engineer (hire): detailed CAD, composite airframe and structural design, feeding directly into build.Fabrication & Integration Engineer (hire/Freelance): prototype build — composite layup, assembly and system integration through to flight-ready.

Written by the company on its public Startup India profile. Not verified by us.