Indian intelligence agencies recently busted Pakistan’s attempts to honey trap the Indian military personnel as the revanchist state plans hybrid warfare against India to further their nefarious agenda.
Pakistan has now started using Chinese drones to smuggle arms and ammunition in India and the subsequent capturing of drones in Punjab which were sent from Pakistan has served an eye-opener for the Indian Army as it is now preparing a blueprint to counter the threat posed by the drones.
Drones are now a new form of weapon used by various countries and terrorist groups as they possess a plethora of advantages. It was recently used by the Houthis of Yemen to attack the oilfield of Saudi Aramco which could have major repercussions for the world.
The rebels launched 10 drones in their coordinated attack on the largest crude oil stabilization plant in the world which can process up to 7 million barrels of crude oil a day. The Houthis have been using dories ever since the start of the civil war in Yemen and started with off-the-shelf, hobby-kit-style drones and later, versions nearly identical to Iranian models turned up and the revanchist state of Pakistan is taking a leaf out of the Houthis book as they look to attack India.
India has an estimated over 6 lakh rogue or unregulated Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) and security agencies are analysing modern anti-drone weapons like ‘sky-fence’ and ‘drone gun’ to counter-terror posed by the aerial platforms. An official blueprint has been prepared by the Central Agencies as they detail the threat posed by the drones and the possible compatible solutions for the same like sky fence, drone gun, ATHENA, drone catcher and Skywall 100 to intercept and immobilise suspicious and lethal remote-controlled aerial platforms.
A drone gun is capable of jamming the radio, global position system and the signal between the drone and the pilot whereas the sky fence system uses a range of signal disruptors to jam the flight path and prevent them from entering their target and the prototypes of the same have been developed and were recently on display in a BSF camp in Haryana and are looking the most feasible solutions and have been recommended to the government. Advanced Test High Energy Asset(ATHENA), is another weapon under analysis as it works by firing a high energy laser beam on a rogue drone resulting in its destruction in the air.
A second drone was seized in Punjab last week as the damaged drone was recovered in Mahawa village based on the information given by one of the four people arrested by the state police. They are allegedly part of a terror module of the Khalistan Zindabad Force (KZF), which is working with Pakistan-based terror group Jaish-e-Mohammed. The drones are extremely efficient and can carry massive amounts of ammunition as the Punjab police recovered five AK-47 rifles, 16 magazines and 472 rounds of ammunition, four Chinese-made 30 bore pistols, along with eight magazines and 72 rounds of ammunition; nine hand grenades, five satellite phones with their ancillary equipment, two mobile phones, two wireless sets and fake currency with the face value of Rs 10 lakh were recovered from them from the drone seized.
The blueprint is an important step to counter the aerial threat posed by the drones as Pakistan attempts to initiate a hybrid war against India.