Is Indian Military Ready to Counter Drone-driven Attacks in Future?
The possibility of small unmanned aerial systems (UAS) becoming very potent tools in the hands of non-state actors, insurgents, and terrorists has been foreseen by many researchers and strategists. When UAVs became operationally viable over 30 years ago, it was exclusively a military domain and the focus has been on larger platforms of medium and size, designed to operate at medium to high altitudes and with long endurance. They were largely used for surveillance and reconnaissance, with subsequent developments in target acquisition and armed roles. By 2010, the idea of micro and mini-UAVs for civilian applications developed exponentially. This has led to commercially off-the-shelf availability of inexpensive autonomous drones that can carry a small payload. Operation of these does not require great skill, thus making it an easy and affordable option for non-state actors. By 2015, insurgents in Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, and terrorist outfits like ISIS began to exploit the advantages of these inexpensive, small, and autonomous drones for their tasks. Autonomous capability is achieved by combining tiny sensors, GPS modules, microprocessors, and digital radios, all of which are commercially available and inexpensive. The natural marriage of IEDs to inexpensive, autonomous drones was inevitable. The drone attack on the Jammu airbase could be a prelude to mass drone attacks in the future. It was only a matter of time that anti-India terrorist organisations like Let, Jaish-e-Mohammed imitate their partner organisations like ISIS.