Andhra Pradesh set to establish a Space City in Tirupati and two defence hubs in another town

Andhra Pradesh has announced plans to establish a Space City in Tirupati and two major defence manufacturing hubs in Madakasira, marking a significant push to position the state as an aerospace and defence hub.

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The combined investment across the projects is expected to be around Rs 3,000 crore.

According to media reports, the state government has awarded the contract to develop the space city to Skyroot Aerospace, a Hyderabad-based spacetech startup founded by former Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) scientists. Skyroot, which designs cost-effective launch vehicles for small satellites, will invest Rs 400 crore to set up the facility across 300 acres in Tirupati.

Reports said that the land has been allotted across Routhusuramala, BS Puram, and Kottapalem villages for an integrated rocket manufacturing, assembly, testing, and storage complex. The location was chosen for its proximity to the Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota, India’s primary launch facility. The State Investment Promotion Board cleared the project on August 28, and the cabinet followed with approval earlier this month.

The initiative is the first major undertaking under Andhra Pradesh’s Aerospace and Defence Policy, introduced in June, which sets an ambitious target of attracting Rs 50,000 crore to Rs 1 lakh crore in investments over five years.

Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu has positioned the policy as central to developing the state into a national hub for aerospace and defence manufacturing.

In parallel, the government has approved two defence projects in Madakasira, Anantapur district, near Bengaluru’s established defence ecosystem. Kalyani Strategic Systems Ltd., a wholly owned subsidiary of Pune-based Bharat Forge, will invest Rs 1,430 crore to build a Defence Energetics Manufacturing complex on 1,000 acres.

The facility will house a high explosives plant, an ammunition filling plant, a gun propellant unit, and provisions for expansion into energetics for rockets, missiles, and launch vehicles.