India's New Stealth Cloak: IIT-Kanpur Develops Radar-Evading 'Anālakṣhya' System

The collaboration between India's defence sector and academic institutions has started to deliver impactful results.

The Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur (IIT-K) on Tuesday (26 November) announced a significant advancement in stealth technology that could render combat systems like tanks and fighter jets invisible or nearly invisible to enemy radar.

The innovation, designated the “meta-material surface cloaking system” (MSCS), has been named Anālakṣhya by its creators at IIT-Kanpur.

This system is expected to play a crucial role in the DRDO's development of the Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft (AMCA), an indigenous stealth fighter being designed to evade enemy air defence radars.

Having undergone rigorous testing in laboratories and on the field from 2019 to 2024, the MSCS has demonstrated its effectiveness in varied environments.

The system is currently under acquisition by the Indian armed forces, signalling its strategic importance to national security.

According to a statement by IIT-Kanpur, Over 90 per cent of the material for the Anālakṣhya MSCS is sourced indigenously.

"The Anālakṣhya MSCS is designed to revolutionize stealth technology for defense and security applications. By offering near-perfect wave absorption across a broad spectrum, it significantly enhances the ability to counter Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) imaging, and will also give effective protection from missiles that use radar guidance," IIT-Kanpur said in the statement.

"In a significant move towards industrial production, the technology has been licensed to Meta Tattva Systems Pvt Ltd which will oversee its manufacturing and deployment," it said.

The system is currently under acquisition by the Indian Armed Forces, signaling its strategic importance to national security, according to the statement.

Stealth technology employs two key mechanisms to evade enemy radar detection.

The first involves designing external surfaces with small jagged panels that disperse radar waves, in contrast to flat surfaces that reflect signals back to enemy radar systems.

The second mechanism focuses on surface composition.

Unlike flat, metallic surfaces that reflect radar waves and facilitate detection, absorptive surfaces capture a significant portion of synthetic aperture radar (SAR) waves, reducing visibility.

“This textile-based, broadband, meta-material microwave absorber offers near-perfect wave absorption across a broad spectrum, significantly enhancing stealth capabilities against SAR imaging,” IIT-K said.

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