NEW DELHI: On May 29, 2022, the J&K police picked up the buzz of a drone at odd hours in Rajbagh of Kathua district. They spotted it and shot it down on suspicion. The six-propellor Korean-made drone (hex copter) had a 7.5 kg payload attached to it. It was carrying seven magnetic bombs and seven Under Barrel Grenade Launchers, local police said, adding it had come from across the Pak border and was assigned to terror operatives already positioned in India.
About 311 drones were sighted in 2022 — a three-fold increase in number over last year along the 3,323 km Indo-Pak border area of J&K, Punjab, Rajasthan and Gujarat with terror and drug cartels trying to push in narcotics and arms into India. But the border patrolling agencies, police and the military are yet to find an effective countermeasure to address these security threats. They are still exploring effective multiple means to intercept and capture enemy drones and rogue UAVs.
Though many drones were withdrawn by Pakistani handles after being spotted and many were shot down by the security personnel with several kg of heroin, grenades, ammunition and arms recovered from them; apprehension is that many might have gone unnoticed. In one of the instances in June 2021 the Indian Air Force only went alert after the bombs dropped by suspected rogue drones, went off in the technical area of Jammu Air Force Station. The intention was to target strategic IAF assets.
Though India is exploring the deployment of anti-drone countermeasures, it will be a herculean challenge to make the border rouge drone-proof.“It’s impossible to track and shoot down every drone along the frontier,” said an officer.“Even shooting down a drone is not always successful,” says an officer who recently retired from the services.
Securing the Pakistan border with anti-drone technology is a costly proposition. Though various technologies are being tested, effective interception to capture drones in intact forms — to analyse data and gather proof of terror plots — are yet to be put in place.
The Indian Army has tried out an ingenious “dog and kite combo”. As the trained canine with sharp senses picks up even the faint buzz of a distant invisible drone, the trained kite takes off to intercept the flying object and bring it down.