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Deepinder Goyal’s aviation venture LAT Aerospace has acquired Gurugram-based defence robotics startup Sharang Shakti in its first acquisition, marking a strategic shift toward building indigenous defence and civil aviation technology from India. The deal was announced on February 24, 2026, via a post on X.
LAT Aerospace Expands Beyond Regional Aviation Into Defence Tech
LAT Aerospace, the capital-intensive aviation startup backed by Zomato founder Deepinder Goyal, has been developing a hybrid-electric short take-off and landing (STOL) aircraft aimed at India’s underserved regional aviation market. The acquisition of Sharang Shakti signals a deliberate expansion of that mandate.
Goyal, who stepped down as Group CEO of Eternal — the parent company of Zomato — to pursue higher-risk ventures, announced the deal on social media platform X, calling it a foundational move in the company’s long-term technology strategy.
“By bringing Sharang Shakti into LAT, we are building these capabilities in-house, from first principles, with the intent to deploy them across both defence and civil programs over time.” — Deepinder Goyal
Key Details of the Sharang Shakti Acquisition
The financial terms and integration timeline of the acquisition were not publicly disclosed. The deal brings Sharang Shakti’s in-house counter-drone technology and autonomous systems capabilities under the LAT Aerospace umbrella.
Sharang Shakti was founded in 2023 by Karan Goyal, Chirag Singla, Jitendra Singh, Gaurav Kumar, and Rishabh Choudhary — graduates of the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi. The startup had raised approximately Rs 5 crore (around USD 600,000) in a pre-seed funding round in September 2024, co-led by AUM Ventures and Venture Highway, with participation from JK Group’s family office and Appreciate Capital.
The startup specialises in airspace surveillance and airborne threat mitigation, operating in the fast-growing counter-drone segment. Its technology stack includes early warning radar, autonomous aerial interceptors, and machine learning-based threat neutralisation systems.
Counter-Drone Products: vajR and hantR Platforms
Sharang Shakti’s flagship product, vajR, is a hardkill aerial interceptor designed for counter-drone operations. It receives target coordinates from a ground station, autonomously navigates toward the threat, and uses onboard electro-optical infrared sensors with machine learning to track and intercept enemy drones via kinetic collision. A human override remains available at all times.
The company’s second platform, hantR — derived from the Sanskrit word for “destroyer” — takes a non-lethal approach. Equipped with onboard sensors and a net-launching mechanism, hantR autonomously intercepts and captures low-altitude drones in controlled engagements. Both platforms integrate with the vajR Hangar and hantR Hangar systems for autonomous takeoff, landing, and charging operations.
A third offering is the company’s low C-SWaP radar — designed for portability and forward deployment across counter-drone applications.
Shared Technology Stack Across Defence and Civil Aviation
Goyal’s rationale for the acquisition centres on the overlap between defence and civil aviation technologies. He noted that both sectors share a common technology foundation spanning autonomy, perception, sensing, navigation, guidance, and control systems — precisely the capabilities Sharang Shakti has been developing.
LAT Aerospace has already invested in a 50,000 sq ft research and development facility in Gurugram, with in-house labs covering powertrains and hardware-in-the-loop simulation systems. The integration of Sharang Shakti’s capabilities is expected to accelerate LAT’s development of advanced autonomous aviation platforms.
In January 2026, LAT Aerospace demonstrated ultra-short take-off capability in its Lat One v0.1 test flight. The aircraft subsequently crashed due to structural defects identified through simulations; the company is now developing the next iteration.
What This Means for India’s Deep Tech and Defence Ecosystem
The acquisition reflects a broader trend of Indian private sector startups contributing to defence and dual-use technology development. Analysts note that the country’s push for Atmanirbhar Bharat — self-reliance in critical technology — is increasingly drawing private capital and entrepreneurial talent into defence robotics and autonomous systems.
LAT Aerospace’s vertically integrated approach — building core autonomy and propulsion capabilities in-house rather than sourcing externally — mirrors a model increasingly adopted by global deep-tech aerospace startups aiming to reduce dependency on foreign supply chains.
What the LAT Aerospace and Sharang Shakti Deal Means for Indian Startups
The deal marks the first visible execution step by LAT Aerospace as it moves from concept to capability creation. For Sharang Shakti’s founding team, the acquisition provides the resources and platform scale required to advance their counter-drone technology beyond pre-seed stage into full-scale development.
The move also underscores the increasing convergence of aerospace, defence, and deep technology in India’s startup ecosystem — a sector that is attracting both private capital and government attention as geopolitical pressures raise demand for indigenous aerial security systems.
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