Lucknow Startup Test-Fires Divyastra Mk3: India's First Jet Drone

By Jagjagran | 17 August 2026

In a landmark moment for India's private defence sector, Lucknow-based startup Kawa UAV Pvt. Ltd. — operating under the brand HoverIt — has successfully completed the maiden flight of the Divyastra Mk3, described as India's first fully indigenous jet-powered loitering munition.

The flight test was conducted on 11 August 2026, and the announcement was made public on 16 August 2026.

Headquartered in the Uttar Pradesh Defence Industrial Corridor, Kawa UAV powered the Divyastra Mk3 with an indigenous turbojet engine sourced from Indian firm DG Propulsion. In its statement, the company emphasised the total indigenisation of the platform:

"No imported jet engine. No foreign critical subsystem."

Perhaps most remarkable is the timeline. The entire programme — from concept to first flight — was completed in under a calendar year, an unusually short development cycle for any aerospace project, let alone a jet-powered military drone.

Loitering munitions — often called "kamikaze drones" — have transformed modern warfare, as demonstrated in recent conflicts across Ukraine, the Middle East, and Nagorno-Karabakh. They combine surveillance and precision strike capabilities in a single expendable platform, allowing forces to identify, track, and destroy targets with minimal collateral risk.

This is a significant private-sector achievement under the Atmanirbhar Bharat initiative — distinct from DRDO-led defence projects. It signals the maturing of India's private defence manufacturing ecosystem, particularly within state-supported defence corridors.

Kawa UAV has withheld specific performance details including the Mk3's range, endurance, speed, and payload capacity — a common practice for weapon systems undergoing induction testing. For context, the earlier Divyastra Mk1 variant was a propeller-driven design with a 500-kilometre range and five-hour endurance.

For a country that has traditionally imported the majority of its high-end defence platforms, the fact that a private startup — not a state defence agency — built a fully indigenous jet-powered drone from scratch in under a year is a story worth pausing on. It suggests that India's private defence industrial base is no longer a promise. It is a fact.

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