India and the UK Choose Co-Development Over Procurement

India and the United Kingdom launched the India-UK Autonomous Platforms and Uncrewed Systems Working Group at the Farnborough International Airshow (6-7 August 2026). It is industry-led, sitting under the UK India Business Council (UKIBC)-Society of Indian Defence Manufacturers (SIDM) joint framework and the India-UK Defence Industrial Roadmap within the Vision 2035 partnership. It is co-chaired by Dr Helen Almey, Head of Capability Engagement at ADS Group, on the UK side and Sameer Joshi, CEO of NewSpace Research and Technologies, on the Indian side, and is tasked with identifying joint development projects, manufacturing partnerships, supply-chain integration and technology innovation across aerial, land and underwater autonomous systems.

The launch marks a structural shift from government-to-government dialogue toward joint industrial outcomes - co-development and joint R&D rather than a buyer-seller platform sale. SIDM Director General K Ramesh described it as the operational framework needed to translate high-level roadmaps into commercial projects, and said it would be the first of several capability-focused sub-groups covering critical defence sectors.

For India the value is structural. Autonomy, counter-drone and seabed-sensor networks are complex, capability-thin layers, and developing them in isolation is slow and risky. A co-development framework is a route to the technology base India's own strategy flags as missing. Particular emphasis on underwater autonomous systems reflects Indo-Pacific maritime priorities, and the appointment of a private Indian innovator, NewSpace, as India co-chair signals that domestic industry is now shaping the bilateral agenda rather than merely participating in it.

The test is whether the working group produces Indian-owned IP and a domestic supplier base - concrete joint programmes within 12 months, and the model replicated across other defence domains - or becomes an import channel with a partnership label. Watch the first joint programmes and their local-content and IP terms.