Acron Aviation is making massive strides in India’s aerospace sector, backing its ambition with significant investments in next-generation avionics and advanced surveillance infrastructure. Already a dominant player in the region—most notably through its widespread deployment of ADS-B Aircraft Surveillance & Tracking Systems—the company is firmly positioning itself as a cornerstone of India’s modernized airspace.
In an exclusive conversation with Vishal Kashyap, Managing Editor, Aviation World, Robin Glover Faure, Chief Customer Officer, Acron Aviation, dives deep into the company’s strategic alignment with the ‘Make in India’ initiative, its expanding footprint within the Indian defense sector, and the technology defining the future of Indian skies. Excerpts from the interview…
AW: Verticals: What verticals is Acron currently working in within India?
ROBIN: India is one of the most dynamic aviation markets in the world right now, and Acron is engaged on two fronts. The first is avionics and surveillance: through ACSS, our joint venture with Thales, we supply ADS-B, TCAS and flight recorder product lines across India’s commercial, regional and general aviation fleets. The second is flight data intelligence: our Flight Data Connect platform brings FDM/FOQA services to Indian operators, backed by our role as an analysis partner in IATA’s Flight Data eXchange. One thread runs through both — helping India’s operators fly safely and efficiently through one of the fastest fleet expansions in aviation history.
AW: What is Acron’s current market presence with ADS-B Aircraft Surveillance & Tracking Systems in India? How can it work as an alternative to secondary surveillance radar at remote regional airports?
ROBIN: Consider what India is attempting. The UDAN regional connectivity scheme has already brought scheduled service to 95 airports, heliports and water aerodromes across more than 660 routes, and the newly approved Modified UDAN programme commits ₹28,840 crore to develop a further 100 airports over the coming decade. Many of these sit in the Himalayas, the Northeast and on islands — exactly the places where building and maintaining secondary surveillance radar is slow, difficult and expensive.
ADS-B turns that problem on its head. Instead of a ground radar interrogating the aircraft, the aircraft determines its own position via GPS and broadcasts it continuously to air traffic control and to other aircraft — no rotating antenna needed on a mountaintop. DGCA’s own ADS-B Out guidance makes the point: satellite-based surveillance fills the gaps in remote and high-terrain areas where radar coverage is difficult or uneconomical, complementing the existing radar network rather than simply replacing it. That ground-infrastructure-light model is precisely what a fast-expanding regional network needs.
And Acron is ready for that build-out today. Our surveillance portfolio — the NXT 600, the Lynx ADS-B In/Out transponder and display system, our Mode S transponder line and SafeRoute+ — is built on ACSS heritage, certified by the FAA and EASA, and designed for exactly this kind of regional and mixed-fleet deployment. Nor are we arriving from a standing start: ACSS-manufactured TCAS 3000SP and T3CAS systems and Mode S transponders already fly with Air India, Air India Express and IndiGo, and selected ACSS surveillance solutions are installed on aircraft platforms manufactured by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited. From the country’s largest airlines to its indigenous aerospace programmes, we are already on board.
On the heels of our highly successful ADS-B Evaluation program with the FAA and American Airlines, Acron is exploring the opportunity for a similar pilot program in India.
In partnership with Indian air carriers, the DGCA and the Airports Authority of India, this program would serve to validate the operational and safety benefits available to the airlines while also demonstrating the value ADS-B technology brings to the modernization of the Indian airspace management infrastructure.
AW: As DGCA progressively aligns with global ADS-B Out mandates, how do Acron’s transponders maintain dual compliance with Indian CAR and international standards for cross-border operations?
ROBIN: Our answer is simple: we build to the standard the world builds to. DGCA’s ADS-B Out requirement has been in force since June 2023 for aircraft operating at or above FL285 on specified ATS routes in Indian continental controlled airspace, and it was deliberately designed to align with the global shift toward satellite-based surveillance under ICAO’s Aviation System Block Upgrade framework.
Acron’s transponder and surveillance systems — including the Lynx ADS-B In/Out transponder and our Mode S product lines — are certified to the international technical baseline that underpins all of these mandates: RTCA DO-260B for ADS-B message formats, ICAO Annex 10 Volume IV for surveillance systems and DO-160G environmental qualification, carrying FAA TSO authorisations and EASA STC approvals. Because DGCA’s regulatory framework is built to be interoperable with ICAO standards and with FAA and EASA precedent, the same transponder that carries an Indian operator across international boundaries also satisfies domestic carriage requirements. No India-only hardware variant, no fork in the fleet, no compliance surprises as the route map grows.
AW: How do you pitch the ROI of upgrading to ADS-B In (like SafeRoute+) to a cost-sensitive LCC in the region?
ROBIN: I would start by reframing the question: SafeRoute+ is a retrofit, not a re-equip. It’s a software upgrade to existing T3CAS or TCAS 3000SP computers plus addition of a low-cost ADS-B Guidance Display. The system integrates with the aircraft’s existing displays and control units. As a result, both the capital outlay and the aircraft-on-ground time are a fraction of a traditional avionics upgrade.
Then look at what it returns. SafeRoute+ gives pilots a 180-nautical-mile forward-field view of surrounding traffic, and the results from American Airlines’ FAA-evaluated trials at Dallas–Fort Worth and in Albuquerque Center airspace are hard numbers, not projections: roughly 490,000 pounds of fuel and 700 metric tonnes of CO₂ saved at DFW in the first year alone, the potential for four to five additional landings per runway per hour, and tighter in-trail spacing with fewer go-arounds. American has since extended the capability across nearly 300 of its A321s.
For an LCC flying dense short-haul rotations through congested, capacity-constrained hubs, every minute of holding, every avoided go-around and every kilogram of fuel drops straight to the bottom line — and the safety and situational-awareness gains come as part of the same upgrade. That is the ROI conversation: a modest software investment, a measurable operational return, and no new boxes on the aircraft.
AW: Aircraft operate over very different terrain — how do Acron’s FDM and FOQA web portals ensure precise detection of localized safety trends and exceedances for carriers?
ROBIN: Because no two route networks are alike, we refused to build a one-size-fits-all platform. Flight Data Connect supports more than 750 configurable safety events, and every one of them can be tuned to an operator’s own standard operating procedures, route network, terrain and airport environment. A carrier flying into high-terrain, high-density-altitude airfields sets thresholds that reflect those realities; a carrier operating flat, low-traffic sectors watches a completely different risk picture — on the same platform. That configurability is what makes genuinely localized trend detection possible.
The colour-coded alert dashboard is designed so a safety team spots a shift in a specific risk area early — while it is still a trend, not an event. And because the underlying data is processed through the same pipeline that feeds our IATA FDX benchmarking, an operator sees not only that a localized trend is emerging, but how it compares with peers flying similar terrain and route profiles anywhere in the world. Local precision, global context — that is the combination that matters.
AW: As IATA’s FDX analysis partner, how does Acron leverage global benchmarking for Indian carriers expanding internationally?
ROBIN: Scale is the whole story here. Acron processes more than 25,000 flights every day, drawing on a database of over 45 million flights, and we supply that analysis into IATA’s Flight Data eXchange as part of the Global Aviation Data Management initiative — a de-identified dataset that now spans some 15 million flights and roughly 7,500 aircraft from nearly 200 contributing airlines worldwide.
For an Indian carrier pushing onto new international routes, that changes the economics of safety intelligence. Rather than waiting years to accumulate its own operational history on an unfamiliar route or airport, the airline can benchmark its safety performance from day one against the aggregate of operators already flying the same or similar aircraft types into the same regions and airports. It is, in effect, borrowing the world’s operational experience — and as Indian carriers place some of the largest aircraft orders in aviation history and stretch their networks across the globe, that head start matters.
AW: With Indian airlines rapidly scaling fleets with new A320neo and 737 MAX aircraft while maintaining older leased models, how do you balance forward-fit factory installations with the active retrofit market?
ROBIN: We refuse to treat retrofit as an afterthought to a factory-fit programme — our product lines are designed to serve both ends of the fleet lifecycle from the outset, and India is exactly the market that vindicates that approach.
On the surveillance side, SafeRoute+ is explicitly built as the retrofit path: a software upgrade to in-service TCAS computers. Newer transponder and display systems like Lynx are positioned for both new-production and retrofit installations through FAA-approved Model List Supplemental Type Certificates that extend compatibility across a wide range of existing aircraft. Our recorder line follows the same logic: the SRVIVR25 cockpit voice and flight data recorder is a direct, plug-and-play replacement for legacy recorder installations, with no aircraft rewiring, so an older leased airframe can be brought up to current recording standards without the downtime of a full avionics bay redesign.
Now map that onto an Indian fleet: new-generation A320neo and 737 MAX aircraft arriving from OEM order books while older leased airframes stay in service to absorb capacity growth. Our dual-track approach means the newest aircraft arrive with factory-standard equipment — and the older aircraft are never left behind on compliance or capability. In a market growing this fast, no operator can afford a two-speed fleet.
AW: How is Acron positioning its ED-112 compliant recorders to help airlines stay ahead of impending local regulatory mandates for extended-duration cockpit voice recording?
ROBIN: The direction of travel is unambiguous, and we built for the destination. EASA has required 25-hour cockpit voice recorders on new aircraft over 27,000 kg since January 2021; ICAO adopted the same 25-hour standard for aircraft manufactured from 1 January 2021; and the FAA finalised its own 25-hour CVR rule in February 2026, with new-production compliance phasing in from 2025 for large transport-category aircraft through 2027 and 2029 for smaller types, and a retrofit obligation for in-service fleets following under the 2024 FAA Reauthorization Act. Every major regulator is converging on the same requirement.
Acron’s SRVIVR25 recorder line is built to EUROCAE ED-112A — the standard underlying every one of those mandates — delivering more than 25 hours of cockpit audio and over 140 hours of flight data in a compact unit designed as a direct replacement for legacy recorders, including FA2100-series units, with no rewiring or mounting changes. For any market moving toward its own extended-duration mandate — and India will be no exception — the message to operators is simple: equip to ED-112A now and you are already standing where the regulation is heading. One retrofit, not two.
AW: Could you outline Acron’s current strategic engagement and footprint within the Indian defence sector?
ROBIN: Acron equipment is flying on some of India’s proudest indigenous platforms. Our line replaceable units — flight data and cockpit voice recorders, TCAS, transponders, standby displays and TACAN+ navigation equipment — are installed across key Indian defence and aerospace platforms including the Dhruv advanced light helicopter, the Prachand light combat helicopter and the Do-228.
Just as important is what happens after delivery. Our Bangalore MRO facility sustains those LRUs in-country, cutting turnaround times, deepening local support capability and aligning directly with India’s indigenisation and lifecycle-support objectives. We are not simply selling into Indian defence programmes — we are committed to supporting them from Indian soil.
AW: In what ways does Acron align its capabilities to support and advance the ‘Make in India’ initiative?
ROBIN: For us, Make in India begins with support in India. We have established an OEM-backed MRO facility in Bangalore covering flight data recorders, cockpit voice recorders and ground support equipment — CAR 145 approved, with DGCA approval progressing — so Indian customers get OEM-standard repair without shipping units halfway around the world.
And that is the foundation, not the finish line. We plan to augment the Bangalore facility to support additional Acron-manufactured line replaceable units, broadening the scope of in-country repair and support available to Indian customers, and over time to pursue EASA and FAA approvals so the facility can serve as a regional support hub built to international maintenance standards. The trajectory is deliberate: deeper capability, wider scope — and a facility that supports the region, from India.
( Aviation World Exclusive Interview )
