NEW DELHI: Indian Army has inducted indigenously produced Swarm Drones Systems aiming to employ them in both offensive and defensive operations. The force believes it will be providing a decisive edge to the tactical commanders employing them.
Indian Army on Friday said, “Swarm Drones being inducted into the Mechanised Forces, duly embracing the niche and disruptive technologies, will provide an edge to Indian Army in meeting future security challenges.”
As per the sources Indian Army has procured Swarm Drones from two Indian start-up companies. In addition, the Indian Army has also initiated a Make-II case, Autonomous Surveillance and Armed Drone Swarm (A-SADS) which includes a number of improvements and also a version for the High Altitude Area.”
“Drone technology has proved to be a Force Multiplier in military operations as evident from its application in various recent conflicts across the world. Even in our context, the recent incidents along the borders have seen a noticeable increase in drone related incidents along our Borders.”
The Indian Army has drawn its prospective plan on the induction of modern technologies. The push for swarm drones also comes because of the lessons learnt from the ongoing international conflicts. “The application of swarm drones in various recent conflicts across the world especially Armenia, Azerbaijan, Syria and strikes on oilfields in Saudi Arabia and the recent Russia-Ukraine conflict clearly highlighted the potency of this niche technology.” a source in the security establishment said.
“We need Swarm Drones for providing tactical commanders with a Force Multiplier capable of providing surveillance inputs, undertaking close recce of a particular area to confirm inputs received from other Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) resources, engage varied targets like Armoured vehicles, B vehicles, artillery and Air Defence equipment, enemy command and control centers and opportunities.” added the sources.
The drone will be adding to the operational capacity as, “Artificial Intelligence (AI) based Automatic Target Recognition (ATR) feature enables the drones to automatically recognise targets line tanks, artillery gun, vehicles and human and display it on the control station screen thus minimizing chances of the operator missing any target and also facilitating engagement by suitable type of weapon platform.”
Swarm Drone System consists of a number of aerial vehicles which are AI-enabled and capable of communicating with the control station as well as among themselves. AI-based Swarming algorithms enable the swarm drones to automatically distribute the tasks among themselves, navigate to the area of interest, ensure collision avoidance during movement to the target area and carry out a search of the area.
A group of drones operating in conjunction with the ground manoeuvre forces will provide “an aerial manoeuvre capability during both offensive and defensive operations, thereby enhancing the combat potential of the ground forces.” the sources said.
There are more projects which the Army is running with the help of academia and has “engaged Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT) to help us meet our niche technological requirements, '' the sources added.