Aeronautical Development Establishment (ADE) is a key Aeronautical Systems Design House involved in the design and development of the state-of-the-art Unmanned Aerial Vehicles and Aeronautical Systems and technologies to meet the requirements of the Indian Armed forces. Major R&D activities are in the areas of:
- Unmanned Aerial Vehicles
- Flight simulators
- Pilotless target aircraft
- Flight control systems
- Air Weapons
ADE has been awarded the AS9100D Certification for its best practices of QMS adhering to the Aerospace Quality Standard.
ADE has been led by the following Directors since its inception:
| Director Photo | Director | From | To |
|---|---|---|---|
 | Dr OP MEDIRATTA | 19 Jan 1959 | 16 Aug 1968 |
 | WG CDR P GOPALAN | 17 Aug 1968 | 04 Apr 1970 |
 | Shri VIVEK R. SINHA | 05 Apr 1970 | 13 Jul 1974 |
 | AIR CMDE HN KRISHNAMURTHY | 14 Jul 1974 | 14 Dec 1981 |
 | AVM HN KRISHNAMURTHY | 15 Dec 1981 | 31 Jul 1985 |
 | Shri BG PATWARDHAN | 01 Aug 1985 | 29 Oct 1985 |
 | Dr KOTA HARINARAYANA | 30 Oct 1985 | 25 Jun 1986 |
 | Dr KG NARAYANAN | 26 Jun 1986 | 18 Jan 2002 |
 | Shri MD ARAVAMUDHAN | 19 Jan 2002 | 31 Oct 2005 |
 | Shri G ELANGOVAN | 01 Nov 2005 | 18 May 2007 |
 | Shri PS KRISHNAN | 19 May 2007 | 30 Sep 2013 |
 | Shri P SRIKUMAR | 01 Oct 2013 | 31 Aug 2015 |
 | Shri MZ SIDDIQQI | 01 Sep 2015 | 09 Sep 2015 |
 | Shri MVKV PRASAD | 10 Sep 2015 | 30 Apr 2019 |
 | Dr S VENUGOPAL | 01 May 2019 | 31 December 2021 |
 | Shri Y Dilip | 01 January 2022 | Till Date |