News stories decay; these pages don't. Event trackers follow the deals, programs and conflicts in motion — every
article feeds its tracker automatically, and every tracker keeps a dated changelog of what actually happened. The
standing directional watch lives on the Six Fronts.
India's FY2026-27 defence budget hit a record ₹7.85 lakh crore, with ₹1.85 lakh crore earmarked for capital acquisition and 75% of that ring-fenced for domestic industry under Aatmanirbhar Bharat. The acquisition cycle is running hot: the DAC cleared roughly ₹52,000 crore of fresh Acceptances of Necessity on 3 July after a record ₹6.73 lakh crore of AoNs in FY26, the ₹70,000-crore Project-75I submarine deal is awaiting Cabinet Committee on Security clearance, and the ₹30,000-crore 87-UAV tender has moved into bid evaluation.
The war has entered its fifth summer with Russia's ground offensive stalling — a net gain of roughly 97 sq km in the first half of 2026 at a cost of nearly 40,000 casualties in June alone — even as both sides escalate deep strikes: Russia's July 1-2 barrage on Kyiv was its largest air attack of the war, while Ukraine's drone campaign has knocked out an estimated 30-43% of Russian refining capacity, forcing Moscow to import gasoline from India. Peace diplomacy is frozen after Putin rejected Zelensky's June ceasefire-and-summit offer, and the war continues to reshape India's defence calculus, from delayed S-400 deliveries to a procurement tilt toward drones and counter-drone systems.
The 2026 Indo-Pacific exercise season is at peak tempo: RIMPAC 2026, the world's largest naval exercise, is underway around Hawaii with 30 nations and roughly 30,000 personnel — India among them with a P-8I — days after the US and partners wrapped Valiant Shield 2026 in the Marianas with a live-fire sinking of USS Juneau. Taiwan is running an April-to-August whole-of-society resilience programme, including a rare Nantou drill pairing a Chinese blockade with an earthquake, ahead of its Han Kuang No. 42 war games from 5 August, while the IAF sends Rafales to Australia's 19-nation Pitch Black from 20 July.
India's largest conventional submarine procurement — six AIP-equipped, Type 214-derived boats to be built by Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders in Mumbai with Germany's thyssenkrupp Marine Systems — has cleared cost negotiations and Finance Ministry approval and now sits with the Cabinet Committee on Security for final clearance before contract signature, which Berlin expects around mid-2026. Urgency has sharpened since Pakistan commissioned the first of eight Chinese-built Hangor-class AIP submarines in April 2026 and sailed it into Karachi in June. First P-75I delivery is expected roughly seven years after the contract is signed.
India's fifth-generation AMCA stealth fighter is in full-scale engineering development, with DRDO targeting first prototype rollout by end-2028 and a maiden flight in 2029. Three private-sector groups — Tata Advanced Systems, an L&T–BEL consortium and a Bharat Forge–BEML consortium — are bidding to build five flying prototypes after HAL was disqualified, with bids due 27 July 2026. Engines are the programme's biggest open front: GE's near-tripled F414 quote has snarled the prototype-phase deal, while Safran and Rolls-Royce have submitted rival full-technology-transfer offers to co-develop the 120kN-class Mk2 engine.
