Beat the Neighbours

Smruti D

Israeli-origin Harop drone

With the advent of technology in the defence sector, there is no doubt that the future is going to be unmanned. As security challenges are strewn across borders, intelligence has now gone beyond the human brain, bringing precision to every task it is employed for. While India itself employs UAVs for intelligence gathering, its neighbours, China and Pakistan, possess greater UAV capabilities. India’s border guarding forces suffer from menace that the Chinese drones cause by intruding into the territory on a regular basis, to either recce the Indian border areas or airdrop weapons and ammunition inside the Indian territory.

As India works hard to induct more UAVs into the system, by a way of the imports as well indigenous production, China has already secured its place as the second largest arms exporter after the US. The UAVs have played a key role in bringing this success to China. As per a research paper produced by the University of Pennsylvania and Texas A&M University, China has so far supplied armed drones to 11 countries. Apart from China investing heavily in the UAV-domain, India has another challenge to deal with—Pakistan is a loyal and almost regular buyer of Chinese drones. Hence, there is drone menace in India from both sides of the border. It is important to note that India does not have a single armed drone system inducted into any of the three forces but the process of acquiring these is underway. An advantage that these drone