IRSA 1.0: On October 6, 2025, DRDO and the Tri-Services launched IRSA 1.0 at DRDO Bhawan in New Delhi. The event was a National Workshop where many people from the Indian Armed Forces, Department of Defence Production (DDP), Defence PSUs, industries, research groups and colleges came together. Everyone joined to learn and talk about how India can build its own modern radio systems for defence.
IRSA mean Indian Radio Software Architecture., it is a special software setup made for Software Defined Radios (SDR). This system makes sure that radios from different companies can still talk to each other easily. IRSA gives rules, interfaces and APIs that help waveforms (radio signals) work on different radios. This means one waveform made for one radio can also work on another one
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The workshop shared the story of how IRSA was made and what it will do next. Experts from DRDO explained its technical parts, and how it will bring together industry, military, and universities. People also talked about starting pilot projects and new partnerships to test the system in real use.
Self-reliant defence communication
IRSA’s launch is an important moment for India’s plan to become self-reliant in defence communication. It follows the idea of building systems that are “designed in India, for India and ready for the world.” The new standard is made to change and grow with time. It can add new technologies in the future when needed.
Work on IRSA began a few years ago. Around 2022 the DRDO and the Indian military started working together on this plan. They wanted one common rule for all radios used by the Army, Navy, and Air Force. After lots of testing and checking, the first version (IRSA 1.0) got approved in 2025.
At the launch event, the Chief Guest was Dr. Samir V Kamat, who is the Secretary of Defence R&D and Chairman of DRDO. Air Marshal Ashutosh Dixit, Chief of Integrated Defence Staff, and Dr. Rajat Moona, Director of IIT Gandhinagar, were the Guests of Honour. The event happened under the guidance of Dr. B. K. Das, DG (ECS).
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The IRSA 1.0 document follows some global standards like SCA, WInnF, and ESSOR, but changes them for India’s needs. It has three radio profiles for different levels of complexity. It also gives steps for testing, certification, and waveform transfer between devices.
Now, DRDO and the Tri-Services will test IRSA on real radios. If the radios from different makers work smoothly, it will be a big success. The government, industries, and universities will all work together to make IRSA a strong system for India.
