New Delhi: The way drones and counter drones were used in Operation Sindoor, the Indian Army also showed that the army has not only rapidly incorporated new technology but has also achieved mastery in it. The army has everything from indigenous attack drones to swarm drones. Many different types of drones have been included in the Indian Army in the last three to four years. These include FPV drones, surveillance copters, nano drones, mini UAVs, remotely piloted aerial vehicles, tethered drones, logistics drones, swarm drones.
FPV drone means first person view drone. An army official said that whenever a particular equipment is inducted into the army, its training is provided by the OEM (original equipment manufacturer). Along with this, training programs are also being conducted in the concerned training schools and field formations. Wherever applicable, aspects related to drone training have been included in the syllabus of all the concerned courses. Also, necessary changes have been made as per the need. Adequate number of drones have also been made available in all training institutions so that training of all types of drones can be done properly.
Along with this, the Indian Army is also moving forward to take platform based counter drone systems to protect its tanks from drone attacks. For which the army has sought information from all indigenous companies and PSUs. The army wants to take these counter drone systems for its tanks under Make in India. The army needs about 75 such platform based counter drone systems for its T-90 and T-72 tanks. There is not much scope to increase the security of the tank by increasing its armor protection as it also affects its mobility and lethality. Therefore, it is necessary to equip tanks with platform-based anti-drone systems.
The army, while explaining its requirement, said that there should be a system for tanks that has active and passive capability to identify drones. The system should be able to identify all types of drones such as first person view (FPV) drones, swarm drones, loitering UAVs and kamikaze drones. Also, there should be a soft kill and hard kill system. This system should be such that it can be integrated into more T-72 tanks in such a way that there is no negative impact on the combat capability of the tanks.
