L&T’s Indigenous Teer Target Drone Completes Successful Flight Trials, Boosting India’s Air Defence Training

New Delhi, August 2025 – Larsen & Toubro (L&T) has successfully completed multiple flight trials of its indigenous Teer target drone, a Manoeuvrable Recoverable Aerial Target (MRAT) system. The milestone marks a major advance in India’s efforts to build self-reliant defence technologies under the Atmanirbhar Bharat initiative.

A New Era of Target Drones

The Teer drone has been designed to replicate advanced aerial threats, enabling the Indian Armed Forces to realistically train, test, and evaluate air defence weapon systems. Its flight trials have demonstrated:

• High-speed manoeuvrability

• Agility in complex aerial patterns

• Reliable performance in replicating hostile aircraft and missile-like threats

The trials confirmed the system’s readiness for deployment in operational training environments, providing highly realistic combat simulation for air defence gunners.

Sophisticated Onboard Payloads

The Teer is equipped with a suite of advanced payloads that enhance its realism during trials:

• Radar Augmentation Systems – to amplify radar signatures, simulating fighter aircraft or cruise missile threats.

• Infrared and Smoke Flares – to mimic missile exhaust or decoys, producing both visual and thermal effects.

• Acoustic Miss Distance Indicator (AMDI) – to measure how close a missile or gunfire round comes to the target, providing precise evaluation of weapon effectiveness.

These features make Teer a versatile and cost-effective aerial target platform, suitable for testing a wide range of defence systems.

Operational Flexibility

The drone is launched via a modular catapult launcher, which is lightweight, mobile, and easy to deploy in diverse battlefield conditions. Its recoverable design ensures it can be reused multiple times, reducing long-term costs compared to expendable targets.

Next-Generation Variant: Teer NG

Building upon Teer’s success, L&T is developing the Teer NG (Next Generation) – a High-Speed Low-Flying Aerial Target (HSLFAT). This variant will have:

• Greater payload capacity

• Higher speeds to simulate supersonic threats

• Enhanced ability to emulate modern low-altitude cruise missiles

The Teer NG will be vital for testing future Indian air defence missile systems like the XRSAM (Extra Long Range Surface-to-Air Missile), the QRSAM (Quick Reaction Surface-to-Air Missile), and even upcoming laser-based directed energy weapons.

Strategic Importance

The successful trials of Teer strengthen India’s air defence training infrastructure by providing realistic and indigenous aerial targets. Until recently, India relied heavily on imported aerial target drones such as the Russian E95M and Israeli Banshee Jet 80+. Teer now offers a domestically developed alternative, reducing dependence on foreign suppliers.

By mastering indigenous target drone technology, India enhances its ability to test, validate, and fine-tune weapon systems ranging from short-range SAMs to long-range anti-aircraft missile shields.

The successful flight trials of the L&T Teer drone represent a major leap forward in India’s indigenous defence capabilities. By delivering a reusable, manoeuvrable, and payload-rich aerial target, Teer ensures that India’s air defence crews are trained against realistic modern threats.

With the upcoming Teer NG set to push the envelope further, India is poised to achieve complete self-reliance in the field of aerial target drones—an often-overlooked but critical component of combat readiness and national security.