Vice Chief of the Naval Staff Vice Admiral Ajay Kochhar chaired a New Delhi media briefing on 19 Oct 2026 to introduce the fifth edition of the Indian Navy's Swavlamban 2026 Naval Innovation and Indigenisation Seminar.
The annual Swavlamban event will take place at Manekshaw Centre, New Delhi, on 26 and 27 Oct 2026. This year's edition, Swavlamban 2026, aims to turn homegrown technological ideas into capabilities suitable for naval operations. Naval representatives, defence forces, startups, MSMEs, researchers, established industry and investors will come together to explore solutions for new maritime security needs.
At the press conference, Vice Admiral Kochhar reflected on the progress of Swavlamban since 2022. He said the platform helps connect the Navy's operational requirements with India's industrial and academic expertise. With warfare changing and naval deployments extending over long periods and distances, he stressed developing specialised Indian technologies that can operate reliably at sea and support preparedness and flexibility.
Visitors to the Swavlamban 2026 exhibition will see Indian developments in maritime surveillance, counter-drone systems, artificial intelligence, quantum technologies, NBCD, and equipment intended to improve safety and operational efficiency. Discussions with investors and venture capital firms will address funding, business growth and opportunities to bring promising domestic technologies into wider use.
The seminar will feature conversations about emerging tools that could strengthen naval operations and India's maritime capabilities. Sessions involving SMEs will examine self-reliance, dependable supply chains, academic entrepreneurship, startups and the development of the iDEX ecosystem.
During Swavlamban 2026, organisers also plan to release the Swavlamban 5.0 Document, a Compendium on Technology Imperatives and the Naval Unified Systems, Ethernet and Tactical Utilisation (NAUSETU) Interface Standards.
The wider goal is to build closer links between India's innovation community and the Navy, so that new domestic technologies can respond to evolving military requirements.
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