India Successfully Tests Indigenous KAL Attack Drone At Pokhran, Claims 1,000-Km Range

India has taken another step towards developing an indigenous long-range unmanned strike capability with the successful flight test of KAL, a one-way attack drone developed by Noida-based defence company IG Defence, at the Pokhran Field Firing Range in Rajasthan.

The vehicle-launched test on September 20 validated the integration of the drone's airframe, propulsion, avionics, navigation and mission systems. IG Defence says KAL is designed for a range of up to 1,000 km, endurance of seven to eight hours, a payload of up to 50 kg and an operating altitude of 5,000 metres. It combines multi-band GNSS with inertial navigation for autonomous flight.

The figures put KAL broadly in the same performance class as Iran's Shahed-136, one of the world's best-known long-range one-way attack drones. The Shahed-136 is assessed to have a range of roughly 1,000–2,500 km and a payload of 20–50 kg. Iran has used the Shahed family operationally, while Russia has extensively deployed the Shahed-136 under the Geran-2 designation in its war against Ukraine.

That comparison, however, needs an important qualification. KAL has only recently undergone the reported Pokhran flight test, whereas Shahed systems have years of operational and combat experience. Russia has also developed domestic production and modified the Iranian-origin design, making the comparison about more than specifications alone.

There is another major caveat. IG Defence has not disclosed how far or for how long KAL actually flew during the Pokhran trial, nor whether it carried a live payload or conducted a terminal strike. The 1,000-km figure is therefore a stated design capability, not a publicly demonstrated 1,000-km flight.

The test nevertheless comes as long-range one-way attack drones have become increasingly important in modern warfare. Their relatively low cost and ability to conduct long-range attacks in large numbers can put sustained pressure on air-defence networks.

KAL's journey to military induction is therefore not complete. Further trials would need to establish its actual range, endurance, precision, payload performance, reliability and resilience against electronic warfare and navigation disruption, followed by military evaluation and certification.

For India, the significance lies not merely in matching a foreign specification, but in developing the ability to design, test and mass-produce such systems domestically. The Pokhran flight is an important milestone; whether KAL can eventually match the operational maturity of systems such as the Shahed remains to be demonstrated.