India Signs ₹4,106 Crore Deals for GSAT-7C Air Force Satellite and Varunastra Torpedoes
India’s Ministry of Defence signed two contracts worth a combined ₹4,106 crore (about $490 million) on October 15, one taking the Indian Air Force into space with a dedicated communications satellite and the other giving the Navy more homegrown heavyweight torpedoes.
Both deals went to state-owned companies, in line with New Delhi’s push to buy Indian-designed equipment wherever it can.
- Total value: about ₹4,106 crore, signed October 15, 2026
- GSAT-7C: ₹2,563 crore with NewSpace India Limited for the IAF
- Varunastra: about ₹1,543 crore with Bharat Dynamics Limited
- Varunastra: ~1,850 kg, up to 40 knots, ~40 km range
GSAT-7C: a satellite of the Air Force’s own
The larger contract, worth ₹2,563 crore, was signed with NewSpace India Limited (NSIL), the Bengaluru-based commercial arm of the Department of Space. It covers the GSAT-7C satellite, which the ministry described as “indigenously designed, developed and manufactured.”
GSAT-7C is meant to give the IAF secure, resilient communications across its aircraft, ground stations and other assets. The ministry did not release technical details such as orbit or frequency bands. The Navy has relied on its own GSAT-7 “Rukmini” satellite for more than a decade, and the Air Force uses GSAT-7A, so a further dedicated platform fills a gap that has grown more pressing as the IAF networks fighters, AWACS aircraft and drones.
More Varunastra torpedoes for the Navy
The second contract, worth about ₹1,543 crore, went to Bharat Dynamics Limited (BDL) for Varunastra heavyweight torpedoes. Developed by DRDO’s Naval Science and Technological Laboratory in Visakhapatnam, the electrically powered torpedo is built to hunt submarines in both deep and shallow water and can be launched from ships and submarines.
Varunastra entered Indian Navy service in 2016. It weighs about 1,850 kg, runs at up to 40 knots and has a range of around 40 km. The new order strengthens the Navy’s anti-submarine warfare capability at a time when submarine activity across the Indian Ocean is rising.
A busy month for Indian procurement
The contracts follow a separate ₹661.50 crore deal with BrahMos Aerospace for fire control systems and launchers for the Indian Navy. Taken together, they show New Delhi continuing to channel its defence budget toward domestic suppliers, from space-based communications to undersea weapons.
Featured image: Press Information Bureau, Government of India / GODL-India, via Wikimedia Commons
