Flying Wedge wants to build India's first AI-piloted fighter. Here is what it has shown so far

Most Indian drone startups build quadcopters for surveillance or small loitering munitions. Flying Wedge Defence & Aerospace, a Bengaluru company based in Electronic City, is aiming much higher. On 13 October it unveiled a static prototype of FWD Supreme in New Delhi, which BusinessLine described as a 1.5 tonne class AI-driven autonomous fighter aircraft. A Anbarasu, Additional Secretary and Director General (Acquisition) at the Ministry of Defence, attended the unveiling, according to BusinessLine.

The prototype is not a flying aircraft yet. BusinessLine reported that the configuration has been frozen and the detailed design is about halfway complete. Chief technology officer Girish G Dixit, who previously worked at the Aeronautical Development Agency on the LCA Tejas team, told the paper the company plans to seek certification from CEMILAC, the military airworthiness authority, and to meet NATO standards.

What FWD Supreme is meant to do

The numbers the company has shared describe a jet-powered unmanned combat aircraft rather than a drone in the usual sense. BusinessLine reported a payload of 350 kg, 5 kN of thrust, a speed of Mach 0.8 to 0.85, a cruise speed of 500 to 600 kmph, a range of 1,500 km and endurance of more than two hours. The aircraft is twin-engined, carries its weapons in an internal bay and measures roughly 10 by 10 metres. The company says it is working with IISc on a quantum application for data encryption and uses visual odometry so the aircraft can navigate when GPS is denied.

The Week reported that the aircraft is built around what the company calls a Mobbing Doctrine, the idea of many autonomous aircraft operating together. Fortune India reported that founder Suhas Tejaskanda positions FWD Supreme as different from other Indian autonomous combat aircraft programmes such as CATS Warrior and Ghatak, and that the full-size version will weigh between 1 and 1.5 tonnes.

The engine question is open. BusinessLine reported that Flying Wedge wants to use DRDO's Manik engine and would otherwise turn to the Czech maker PBS. With Manik, the company expects about 80% Indian content; without it, about 60%.

A smaller aircraft comes first

Before the full aircraft, the company is building a lighter version. BusinessLine reported that a 250 kg version will act as the test bed and that two smaller variants have completed taxi trials. Fortune India reported that the maiden flight of this Lite version is expected in one and a half to two months. The Week reported that the Lite version is 90% indigenous, uses an engine from UMS in Coimbatore and is designed for the Army.

The company has said it would fly early before. When Flying Wedge first showed the FWD Supreme concept in June, The Economic Times reported that the first demonstrator flight was targeted for the third quarter of 2026 and that Phase 1 of the programme aims for speeds up to Mach 0.9. We did not find a report of that flight in the sources we read, and Fortune India's October timeline for the Lite points to the end of the year.

What it has already flown

Flying Wedge's case rests partly on aircraft that have flown. The Indian Express reported in September that its Kaal Bhairava Lite had completed 100 cumulative flight hours and that the company was the first Indian firm to receive DGCA type certification for an indigenous UAV. The paper reported a range of over 1,000 km, endurance of 8 to 10 hours, a climb rate of 7 to 8 metres per second, a cruise speed of 100 to 120 km/h and a takeoff run under 120 metres. It also reported that the Navy programme was at the request for information stage, that the company had an export order from a South Asian country and that it had set up a manufacturing node in Portugal.

The same report recorded earlier milestones: the maiden flight of the FWD-200B bomber drone on 3 September 2024 and the announcement of the Kaal Bhairava E2A2 on 22 August 2025. The Week reported that members of the team had worked on the Tejas Mk1 and AMCA programmes, and The Economic Times named V Subba Rao, a former LCA project director, as part of the team.

The money problem

Building a combat aircraft is expensive, and Flying Wedge is still small. BusinessLine reported that the company needs about $100 million for the full programme and about $10 million for the light version, and that it has raised $7 million so far, according to Tejaskanda. Fortune India cited Tracxn data showing $3.44 million raised across eight rounds since the company was founded in 2022, with the latest seed round on 4 April 2026. The two figures come from different sources and may count different things, such as founder capital or grants.

Fortune India also reported that there is no formal agreement with the Ministry of Defence and no government funding, and that the company is seeking private equity and venture capital investors. It mentioned an internal programme called Operation Triple Seven.

Why it matters

India has several autonomous combat aircraft efforts, most of them run by state agencies. A private startup trying the same thing is a test of whether India's defence startup ecosystem can move from drones and subsystems to complete combat platforms. The prototype in New Delhi is a statement of intent. The real milestones are the Lite's first flight, an engine decision and a funding round large enough to pay for a flying FWD Supreme.