Examine the role of public–private partnership in developing near-space defence platforms. What challenges does India face in building them indigenously?

Near-space platforms, or High-Altitude Pseudo Satellites (HAPS), operate in the stratosphere at about 20 km, between drones and satellites. In 2026 the Defence Acquisition Council approved an Air-Ship Based HAPS (AS-HAPS) for persistent ISR (intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance), electronic intelligence and telecommunication [3]. This shows that India now wants to buy these platforms, not just study them. Making that work needs both state R&D and private manufacturing, so public–private partnership (PPP) is essential.

Role of PPP

• Sharing the risk: Under the Make-I route, the government funds up to 70% of prototype cost [4]. The fixed-wing HAPS has been offered to industry as a Make-I project [5].
• Lab-to-industry transfer: ADRDE Agra flight-tested envelope pressure control and emergency deflation on a 17 km, 62-minute trial [1]. Sharing this test data can shorten private firms' learning curve.
• Competing designs: DRDO's lighter-than-air airship and CSIR-NAL's solar fixed-wing HAPS (subscale flight to 25,000 ft) [6] give two separate paths, so the programme does not depend on one design.
• Led by the user: The IAF sets the roles the platform must perform: ISR, ELINT and telecom [3]. This keeps industry focused on what the force actually needs.
• Civilian use: HAPS are also useful in disaster management [6], which widens the market for private firms.

Challenges to indigenisation

• Endurance gap: The best trial so far held 20 km for just over 30 minutes [2]. An operational HAPS must stay up for months [6].
• Physics: NASA feasibility studies show that night-time energy storage, wind speed and payload are the main limits on station-keeping (holding position over one area) [7].
• Funding cap: Make-I support is capped at ₹250 crore per developer [4]. That is small for platforms with long development times and only one buyer.
• Scattered institutions: ADRDE (DRDO), CSIR-NAL and the IAF work under separate bodies [1][6][3]. Without a single body to compare designs on the same tests, effort may be duplicated.
• Thin supplier base: Few Indian firms have experience with stratospheric envelopes, high-efficiency solar systems and lightweight power storage, so new suppliers must be built up.

PPP turns DRDO's prototypes into products the forces can use. Funding should be released against proven milestones: a full night aloft, several days of station-keeping and a working payload. Test data should be shared openly with industry. This approach fits Aatmanirbhar Bharat and the DAP's goal of indigenous design, and it can make India one of the few countries with its own near-space capability [1].