Anti Drone System from Zen Technologies works on detection, classification, tracking on passive surveillance, camera sensors & neutralisation of the threat via jamming drone communication

The Indian Army (IA) and Indian Air Force (IAF) are increasing their efforts to acquire more advanced anti-drone systems in response to the growing threat from hostile drones and unmanned aerial systems (UAS) in both conventional and irregular warfare.

Current Procurement Efforts

The Indian Army has issued a tender for nine more indigenous integrated drone detection and interdiction systems (IDD&IS). This is in addition to systems already inducted for the frontier with China.

The IAF is seeking new anti-swarm drone systems, including 10 kamikaze drone-based systems, 10 mobile micro munitions-based systems, and 100-200 vehicle-mounted counter-UAS.

The IAF will begin inducting 200 radio frequency jammer guns. The Army is acquiring around 30 vehicle-based drone jammers.

Need For Advanced Systems

More advanced anti-drone systems are needed with multiple soft-kill and hard-kill options and longer interception ranges.

These systems include jamming, spoofing, and blinding systems to disrupt drone command-and-control links, as well as laser-based directed energy weapons (DEWs) for hard kills.

The Army requires advanced versions of vehicle-mounted IDD&IS with soft-kill jamming ranges of 2-5 km and effective hard-kill ranges through lasers of around 800 meters.

The IAF needs effective multi-sensor, multi-kill systems against smaller drones to address operational gaps.

Indigenous Development And Collaboration

India is behind other countries in indigenously developing complex counter-drone technologies.

The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has developed anti-drone systems with 2-kilowatt to 10-kilowatt lasers, and the armed forces have ordered 23 such systems. DRDO is also developing DEWs with higher power.

Domestic private firms are partnering with foreign companies for advanced anti-drone solutions. For example, U.S. company Anduril Industries and Indian Mahindra Group are collaborating to co-produce an AI-enabled counter-UAS.

Other Key Points

The Army still relies heavily on older air defence systems.

Conflicts such as those in Armenia-Azerbaijan, Israel-Hamas, and Russia-Ukraine have highlighted the increasing threat from drones.

There is an emphasis on developing and deploying effective counter-drone systems, including jamming, spoofing, blinding systems, and laser-based DEWs.

Zen Technologies has launched AI-powered anti-drone system called Vyomkavach designed to neutralize rogue UAV threats.

The Indian Army has deployed anti-drone systems along the Line of Control (LoC) to thwart infiltration attempts.

The DRDO will unveil a laser-based directed energy weapon during the Republic Day Parade 2025.

TNN