Padmalochan Dash
With its evolving drone adventurism manoeuver put on show, the Indian Army celebrated its most auspicious anniversary on January 15, 2021. The occasion was spectacular with the parade of India’s growing military prowess. The fabulous attraction for the larger audience was the caravan of the evolving drone deployment platform – the new fangled wing of India’s 21st C. war-craft.
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India’s drone war-craft is at its inception. Nevertheless, by showcasing it on the Army Day Parade, the Indian Army underpinned the larger picture of the ongoing preparation of India’s drone-capacity with the country expeditiously venturing into the era of electronic warfare.
To the amusement of the gallery at Delhi cantonment, ‘child-drones’ released and ordained over by ‘mother-drones’ played havoc to the demo targets, exhibiting India’s ongoing drone development mission. The message for adversaries was clear, that India is now capable of unveiling ‘drone-in-swarms’ to attack enemy locations including military bases and logistics. This also sent a clear memo to the jihadi fanatics and their sponsors that they are at India’s mercy and their hideouts in the neighbourhood are no longer safe.
India has exhibited its capacity of executing ‘surprise, kinetic and Kamikaze-type strikes’ with surgical precision as deep as 50 km inside enemy territory. The revelation, that Indian drones are now capable of destroying targets—using either missiles or by going Kamikaze (detonating-themselves) is panicking the foes. India’s drone-craft is multi-pronged and the Sino-Pak axis is not out of the radar.
Chinese demonstration of its swarm capacity in the recent past followed by its supply of military drones to Pakistan were two important wake up calls, which required India to convey an apt retort. And, the ‘mother-child drone demo’ was played to that occasion. Though demonstrated in a controlled environment, the message conveyed was tactfully garnished. It objectively conveyed India’s future offensive military preparation entailing Artificial Intelligence (AI)-enabled simulated combat-support operations with least human intervention.
Drones capable of enhanced surveillance, anti-terror manoeuvers, and lethal-Kamikaze-kinetics, can inflict precipitated assaults targeting opponents’ tactical weaponry adventurism. Drone swarms carrying electronic combat implements can overwhelm an adversary’s air defence capabilities by saturating radars and air defences thereby obfuscating an enemy’s system to respond. Though remaining in a swarm, by leveraging the power of AI, each of the drones remains autonomous and independent to carry out missions. The most calculated part of the technology is that without being controlled from the ground it can carry out the programmed missions accurately and undeterred.
Drones can make a country victorious, and the result of the Armenia- Azerbaijan conflict is an eye-opener. However, drones can make non-state elements powerful, provided the advanced technology is at their disposal. No wonder that Pakistan-sponsored terrorists have started employing drone-tactics, and it’s upon the Indian security planners to remain fitted out to deter such upshots.
India has been deploying drones at all strategic locations across sectors in a phased manner. By not undermining the drones in effect and as a measure of ‘fill-the gap requirements’, drones in the inventories are being equipped with cyber-attack capability to overwhelm opponents’ deterrence during a would-be complex operation. Also, India has started investing hugely into research and development in drones. The Indian Army is now working closely with the Defence Research Development Organisation (DRDO) and the private sector to develop drone swarms.
Still, India’s drone capacity remains at its nascent stage and there are miles to go. Globally, studies suggest that India can lead in the field of drone development. In the future, the country’s drone swarming capacity will increase in size and sophistication.
India’s drone evolution is in full swing. Further evolution into drone dynamics will enhance the country’s firepower as well as ammo-control capacity by a significant order and magnitude. This will certainly guarantee the rising India with a better sense of invincibility.
The writer is a Post-Doctoral Fellow at the School of National Security Studies, Central University of Gujarat, Gandhinagar. Views are personal.
