Indian Army Sets Up 'AASHVAST' Lab at DG EME to Vet Military Drones for Hidden Software Threats

7 September 2026National

The Indian Army has set up AASHVAST — Assessment and Analysis of Electronic Systems Hardware for Vulnerabilities and Security Threats — a software analysis and validation laboratory at the Directorate General of Electronics and Mechanical Engineering (DG EME) headquarters in New Delhi. The lab scans military drone firmware and other electronics for backdoors, hidden remote-access tools and secret command paths, and verifies that systems accept only manufacturer-approved updates. It operates as a completely air-gapped, offline, read-only environment, and can test how drones withstand GPS spoofing and jamming. It was inaugurated at Delhi Cantonment by Chief of the Army Staff General Dhiraj Seth on 14 August 2026.

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The Corps of Electronics and Mechanical Engineers (EME) was raised in 1943; its motto is 'Karm Hi Dharm' | An air-gapped system is physically isolated from all external networks, including the internet | Firmware is the embedded software that controls hardware functions in devices such as drones

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