"My Operational experience, from Balakot to Ops Sindoor, has taught us that the future is not about single platforms but about integrated, intelligent systems operating in a seamless, interconnected mesh"
Leading teams across multiple ministries, industries, and startups is no small feat. How do you ensure alignment and motivate everyone towards a shared vision?
Honestly, leading a team isn’t about giving orders; it’s about finding that shared, unwavering purpose. As a Combat product innovator in the Indian Air Force, I learned that in the chaos of a mission, you don’t lead by micromanaging. We lead by giving our team absolute clarity and a reason to trust each other with a clear national and larger aim in mind.
For a monumental national project like the Mehar Baba Swarm Drone initiative, our shared purpose wasn’t just a technological goal—it was about securing our nation’s future. We made sure every startup founder, every engineer, and every ministry official understood their part in that larger mission. It creates powerful ownership.
I often think about my endurance athlete’s experience swimming 2,600 kilometres across the Ganga. In the middle of that long journey, you don’t think about the finish line; you focus on the next stroke. But it’s the belief that every stroke is taking you home that keeps you going.
That's the kind of resilience and shared vision we strive to foster in our teams, the quiet conviction that every single effort, no matter how small, is a critical part of our collective journey. When the goal becomes larger than life, we generally align.
In high stakes defense projects, critical decisions can’t wait. Can you share an instance where your leadership directly influenced a project’s success?
In high-stakes environments, the greatest burden is the weight of command. We are the last ones with the authority to decide, and lives, and missions hang in balance. As we were developing a real-time Swarm Drone system for Foreign Object Debris (FOD) detection on airfields, we faced a formidable challenge: our AI models required a massive amount of real-world, live runway data to be truly effective. The traditional approach was to use simulated environments, but that simply wouldn’t cut it for a mission as critical as ensuring runway safety.
Our team believed we needed access to live runways to train our models on every single scenario, from a loose bolt to a misplaced tool. This was a nightmare to get approved. The idea of granting access to operational airfields for an unproven AI model was a non-starter for top leadership due to security and operational constraints. It was a classic case of innovation meeting bureaucracy.
Instead of pushing back, we decided to shift our strategy. We knew we couldn’t ask for full-scale access upfront. We designed a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) with a limited dataset to prove the concept. We then used a series of Agile UX sprints to build and validate four different prototypes with a small, trusted group of 4 airfield ops teams. This wasn’t about a grand presentation; it was about showing, not telling. When we demonstrated our MVP’s ability to reduce FOD detection time by 60% on a controlled runway, the results spoke for themselves.
That demonstration was the critical turning point. It convinced leadership that the potential rewards outweighed the risks. Our leadership wasn’t about commanding a project from afar; it was about understanding the political and operational landscape, building a proof of concept that couldn’t be ignored, and using that small win to earn the trust needed to achieve a massive success.
You’ve developed multiple indigenous drone technologies under strict regulatory constraints. How do you foster a culture of innovation while navigating these challenges?
People often see regulations as a cage, but we see them as a compass. As a product strategist and innovator, our job isn’t to break the rules, but to use them as a framework for creativity. In our work on the Mehar Baba Swarm Drone initiative, the strict security and regulatory protocols weren’t a barrier; they were our guiding principles.
We built a culture where engineers and innovators were challenged to be brilliant within these boundaries. We said, “This is our sandbox. Now, what incredible things can we build here?” This approach, which is at the core of our 7+ AI patents, allows us to move with purpose and speed.
We are a nation of innovators. Our role is to connect that raw talent from our startups to the strategic needs of the our nation. When we do that, we don’t just build compliant products, we build groundbreaking technologies that are mission-ready from the moment they are conceived. We’re not just following rules; we’re creating a new blueprint for indigenous defence innovation for our nation.
AI and ML are transforming modern defense systems. How have you applied these technologies to improve UAV operations and combat readiness?
For us, AI isn’t just a buzzword; it’s a tactical necessity. Our work, which has led to 7+ AI patents, is a testament to our belief that these technologies are the keys to unlocking a new era of defense capabilities. We’ve applied these principles in tangible, life-saving ways through our swarm drone programs.
A perfect example is our real-time Swarm Drone system for Foreign Object Debris (FOD) detection. On an airfield, a simple loose bolt or piece of debris can be catastrophic, grounding an entire fleet and jeopardizing missions. We built a system where a small swarm of autonomous drones, equipped with AI-powered cameras, could scan and detect FOD with incredible speed and accuracy. This innovation led to a 60% reduction in detection time, ensuring our runways were clear and our aircraft were ready for immediate takeoff. This wasn’t just a technological feat; it directly enhanced our combat readiness by ensuring assets were never held back by preventable hazards.
Furthermore, we’ve integrated AI/ML into predictive logistics. By analyzing vast amounts of data from our drone operations, our systems can now predict component failures with 60% accuracy. This allows us to perform maintenance proactively, leading to a 22% reduction in mission aborts and a significant increase in the overall reliability of our platforms. It’s about leveraging technology to give our people the ultimate advantage, enhancing not just our systems, but our combat readiness as a whole.
Swarm drones are a leap in autonomous warfare. What were the key technical and strategic challenges in developing swarm drone systems, and how did you tackle scalability, coordination, and reliability?
The very idea of a swarm drone is a leap of faith. It’s about letting go of a single point of control and embracing a distributed system. In the Mehar Baba Swarm Drone initiative, our biggest challenge wasn’t just building the drones but building a system that was truly intelligent and resilient.
Technically, we needed a swarm that could operate without a central commander, a single point of failure that a sophisticated adversary could easily target. Our team solved this by developing a decentralized, distributed intelligence framework with Man-on-the-loop, where each drone acts as a node on a secure network. They communicate with each other, share data, and make collective decisions, just like a flock of birds. This self-healing architecture ensures that the mission continues even if a significant number of units are lost. It’s a key principle we’ve explored in our patents.
On the strategic front, the biggest question was the ethics of autonomous warfare. We’ve been very clear: a human must always remain in the loop. The swarm provides a commander with unprecedented options, but the final decision to engage is always a human one.
To make the swarm truly a game-changer, we focused on scalability, coordination, and reliability. Our modular design allows us to easily add hundreds of drones to a swarm. The collective intelligence algorithms we developed ensure perfect coordination, even in a cluttered urban environment. And the system’s redundancy means it will never fail completely, it simply adapts. This reflects the resilience we’ve cultivated in our workA setback isn't a failure; it’s just another step on the journey toward success.
Looking ahead, which emerging technologies do you think will redefine aerial combat and surveillance in the next 5–10 years?
In the next 5-10 years, three technologies will redefine the battlefield.
The first is Manned-Unmanned Teaming (MUM-T). We’re moving beyond traditional air combat to a world where our pilots will not fly alone. They will command swarms of loyal wingmen—unmanned systems that can conduct reconnaissance, provide cover, and even engage targets, all under the pilot’s command. This will exponentially increase our combat power and tactical flexibility.
The second is the rise of Directed Energy Weapons (DEWs). These laser and microwave technologies will fundamentally change air defence. Imagine neutralising a swarm of incoming drones at the speed of light, with surgical precision and at a fraction of the cost of a missile. This technology is a leap forward in both defensive and offensive capabilities.
And finally, the convergence of AI with Quantum Computing. This will give us an information advantage that is almost unimaginable today. It will allow us to process vast amounts of data from the battlefield in real-time, enabling our commanders to make better decisions faster. It’s about moving from reacting to predicting. The ability to endure extreme pressure and innovate during conflicts, a lesson learned from my combat experience, is what will prepare us for this new era of instantaneous warfare and the mental agility it demands
My Operational experience, from Balakot to Ops Sindoor, has taught us that the future is not about single platforms but about integrated, intelligent systems operating in a seamless, interconnected mesh.
About Dr. Manoj Kumar
Dr. Manoj Kumar is a former Wing Commander and a leading product strategist spearheading swarm drone innovation at a national level. His work at the Indian Air Force has been instrumental in the country defense transformation, most notably as the driving force behind the landmark Mehar Baba Swarm Drone initiative.
An expert in autonomous and mission-critical systems, Dr. Kumar is a co-inventor on 7+ AI patents, reflecting his deep technical and strategic insights. His leadership is forged from extensive operational experience in high-stakes missions, including Balakot and Galwan, where his decisive command directly influenced project success and operational readiness.
Beyond his distinguished military career, Dr. Kumar is a decorated endurance athlete, having completed the Ironman triathlon and swum 2,600 km across the Ganga. These feats are a testament to his exceptional resilience, discipline, and commitment to leadership under extreme pressure. He embodies the perfect blend of tactical expertise, technological vision, and personal grit.
