Overview
- DRDO formally handed the Final Operational Clearance for the Netra airborne early warning and control system to the Indian Air Force on June 25, 2026, certifying the platform for unrestricted combat use.
- Final Operational Clearance confirms Netra completed all user trials and validations and removes the operational limits that remained after its initial operational clearance in 2017; DRDO dedicated the milestone to the eight personnel who died in the 1999 ASP crash.
- Netra has already been used operationally and its sensors and mission systems supported the IAF during the 2019 Balakot strikes and Operation Sindoor in 2025, demonstrating its utility as an airborne command-and-control asset.
- Because Netra was developed indigenously, India holds the software, source code and interface control documents, which lets the services perform in-country upgrades, preserve operational secrecy and adapt the system to new threats.
- The Cabinet Committee on Security has approved follow-on production and upgrades, including six Netra Mk‑1A builds and plans for a higher-end Mk‑2/A321 programme, creating a large domestic procurement pipeline that will involve local defence firms and could support future exports.