DRDO hands over AI-powered Prajna satellite imaging system to Home Ministry

DRDO has handed over the AI-enabled satellite imaging system 'Prajna' to the Ministry of Home Affairs to strengthen India's internal security architecture. The transfer was announced on 21 April 2026, with DRDO Chairman Samir V Kamat formally handing over the system to Union Home Secretary Govind Mohan.

Prajna has been developed by the Centre for Artificial Intelligence and Robotics (CAIR), a Bengaluru-based DRDO laboratory. The platform fuses high-resolution satellite imagery with machine-learning models to automatically detect changes, flag anomalies, and surface patterns of interest that human analysts could miss or process only slowly. The output feeds into a unified geospatial intelligence dashboard for security agencies.

The Ministry of Home Affairs has positioned Prajna as a force multiplier for several operational theatres: counter-terrorism along the western border, infiltration monitoring along the Line of Actual Control, anti-Naxal operations in central Indian forest belts, and disaster-response surveys. Officials say Prajna can adapt to imagery from high-altitude Himalayan terrain as well as dense forest cover.

Importantly, Prajna replaces parts of the workflow that earlier depended on commercial foreign satellite imagery and analytics services. By stitching together imagery from Indian satellites with indigenous AI models, the system advances the Aatmanirbhar Bharat goal in the geospatial-intelligence domain and reduces strategic dependence on overseas vendors.

Exam angle: Important for UPSC GS-III (internal security, science and tech), defence-services exams (CDS, AFCAT, CAPF) and SSC GA. Remember CAIR Bengaluru as the developer, the link to Aatmanirbhar Bharat, and the four operational uses — counter-terror, border, anti-Naxal and disaster response.