February 2021

Dr. Syama Prasad Mookerjee

Research Foundation

SPMRF OCCASIONAL PAPER

The Drone Dimension

of Modern Warfare & India's
Capacity Building in that Sphere
Pathikrit Payne
The Drone Dimension of Modern
Warfare & India’s Capacity
Building in that Sphere
While drones are definitely adding a new dimension to the
warfare landscape, it is highly unlikely that conventional
weapon systems would lose their relevance merely because
of the advent of unmanned systems. India, meanwhile, along
with modernisation of its conventional warfare platforms, and
acquisition of unmanned combat systems, would do well to
formulate an Integrated Long Endurance Drone Development
Program, for developing indigenous proficiency in drone
making, on the lines of Integrated Guided Missile Development
Program that has in the past given positive results and made
India self-sufficient in the field of guided missile development.

L ate in the evening of 25th November 2020, reports emerged

that India has acquired two Predator MQ-9B Sea Guardian
drones on lease from General Atomics of USA. Shrouded in
secrecy, the two drones, as per reports, had arrived in India in
the second week of November and were inducted for real time
operations on November 21. With an endurance level that
can be stretched up to 40 hours, and ability to fly at 40,000
feet, the Sea Guardian Drones, no wonder, act as a major force
multiplier in the realm of reconnaissance and surveillance.

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Close on the heels of Indian Navy taking possession of the 9th
P8I Poseidon maritime reconnaissance and anti-submarine
warfare aircraft, the combination of P8Is, Indian Navy’s
Dorniers, IL-38s and Herons as well as the newly inducted
Sea Guardians would definitely add to Indian Navy’s ability
to keep a hawk-eye on the entire Indian Ocean Region as well
as Arabian Sea and Bay of Bengal.
While, as per reports, the two Sea Guardian Drones have
been taken on lease for a year, it is for sure that the fleet
augmentation of the same is only a matter of time and that the
present lot, in addition to acclimatising the Indian personnel
on the machines, were also inducted on an emergency basis,
given the rising tension with China. Reports also indicate that
even though the systems were acquired for Indian Navy, their
deployment in Ladakh cannot be ruled out either. Further,
India’s leasing of US made military grade drones is also
an indication of the operationalisation of Basic Exchange
Cooperation Agreement for Geo-Spatial Cooperation or
BECA that was recently signed between India and US during
the 2+2 Dialogue that was held a month back.
India’s Tryst with Military Grade Drones
India’s application of drones for military grade surveillance
and reconnaissance is not a new thing though. The Indian
Armed Forces have been using Israeli made Heron and

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Searcher drones for decades now. It also has the Harop loitering
munition anti-radiation drones in its arsenal. Especially, India’s
Israeli made Heron fleet of Medium Altitude Long Endurance
(MALE) drones have been extremely effective. However, it
is for the first time that India is now getting hold of US made
drones.
One thing nevertheless is obvious that India, along with
modernisation of its conventional warfare architecture
through acquisition of new platforms in the realm of artillery,
helicopters, combat crafts, assault rifles, surface to air missiles,
warships, and submarines, is also now seriously considering
acquisition of armed drones capable of firing missiles and
guided bombs. A proposal for acquisition of thirty armed
Predator drones from US is in pipeline while India is also
actively considering ‘Project Cheetah’ under which 90 Israeli
Heron drones from the existing fleet of drones of Indian Armed
Forces would be upgraded with capability of launching guided
missiles and bombs. While acquisition of mini drones in
considerable numbers have already been taking place, it is in
the realm of acquisition of medium and high-altitude combat
drones that would witness considerable activities in the years
to come.

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How Some Recent Incidents Brought Drone
Dimension of Warfare Back Into Limelight..
Efficacy of drones needs no specific elaboration. The
Americans have been using armed drones to target Al Qaeda
and ISIS terrorists for years now. Most major countries of the
world now have a fleet of military-grade surveillance drones.
However, a few major incidents over the last two years, have
brought the whole issue of application of drones in modern
conventional and sub-conventional warfare back to limelight
with a new vigour. It has also led to scrambling by security
agencies of many countries to expedite their armed drones
acquisition proposals.
The September-2019 Drone Attack on Abqaiq-
Khurais Oil Processing Facilities in Saudi Arab
In September 2019, the Abqaiq-Khurais oil processing
facility of Saudi Aramco were attacked by a swarm of drones
allegedly sent by Houthi rebels from Yemen. The drones named
by Houthis as Qasef-1 had striking similarities with Ababil-T
drones of Iranian origin. Surprisingly, the explosive laden
drones hit the refining facilities after successfully evading the
Skyguard air defence systems as well as Patriot air defence
systems of Saudi Arab.
Each carrying a 30 kg payload and programmed with
loitering munition architecture, the swarm of Houthi drones

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showed how a cost-effective method of targeting a critical
infrastructure could be activated against which some of the
best air defence systems could not achieve much success. For
an economy that is so very dependent on export of oil, targeting
of the Abqaiq facility was not a random attack but one aimed
at hitting one of the most critical economic infrastructures
of Saudi Arab. It did have a considerable impact on the oil
processing capability of Aramco, for few weeks to the least,
and the Houthis, unfortunately created a template for other
states and non-state actors, on how to hit an adversary with
cost effective yet highly devastating armed drones.
Pakistan’s Nefarious Design of Air-Dropping Arms
Across the Borders through Chinese Made Drones
The second incident that almost happened in quick
succession to the drone attack in Saudi Arab, was a new trend
of Pakistan using drones to drop arms in border states like
Punjab. In September 2019, it was found that Pakistan’s ISI
was using Chinese made drones capable of carrying a 10 kg
payload, in each sortie, to drop 80 kg of arms and ammunitions
in Amritsar and Tarn Taran through several sorties. The payload
was meant to fuel Khalistani terror activities in Punjab. The
modus operandi, as investigations later revealed, was to
launch the drones from Pakistan within two kilometres from
international border, and from thereon, the drones travelled
for around five kilometres at an altitude of around 2000 feet.

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Thereafter, the drones used to descend to a level of 1200 feet
to drop off the weapons carrying payload that was usually
slung from the drones with the aid of mountaineering ropes.
On quite a few occasions since then, Pakistan has attempted
to use drones to drop weapons across LOC into J&K and
in Punjab. With India’s counter-infiltration grid along the
Indo-Pakistan Border becoming more impregnable, it seems
that Pakistan found the aerial route more convenient to
send in weapons for orchestrating acts of terror. This has
invariably alarmed India’s security agencies and necessary
countermeasures were expedited from thereon.
The Drone Impact on the Azerbaijan-Armenia
Conflict
The third major incident that turned quite a few eyeballs
across the world was that of the conflict between Azerbaijan
and Armenia, a few weeks back, over the Nagorno-Karabakh
dispute that witnessed extensive application of drones for
offensive operations, more so by Azerbaijan. The Azeri
Armed Forces had unleashed a rein of fury over the Armenian
deployments using the Turkish made TB-2 drones. The TB-2
drones made by Baykar Defence of Turkey may not be of any
match to the US made MQ-9 Reapers in terms of payload
carrying capacity, cruising speed or weight, but still these cost-
effective machines, each capable of carrying four anti-tank

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guided missiles. were extremely effective in the battlefield
against Armenia. In a Forbes article titled, ‘The ‘Magic
Bullet’ Drones Behind Azerbaijan’s Victory Over Armenia’,
published in November 2020, David Hambling writes,
‘By October 3, Azerbaijan already claimed to have destroyed
250 armored vehicles and a similar number of artillery
pieces, plus 39 air-defense systems including an S-300 air-
defense system. The destruction of air defenses is particularly
significant: once these have been knocked out, the drones can
pick off targets at will’.
Incidentally, Turkey’s TB-2 drones were also deployed in
the Syrian, Northern Iraq, and Libyan theatre. In case of Libya,
the Government of National Accord or GNA had deployed
Turkish TB-2 and Anka-S armed drones, while in case of
Syria too, Turkey had allegedly used the drones against Syrian
regime. There have also been reports of Turkey using these
drones against the Kurdish insurgent groups such as PKK.
Drone Strike on Anad Base in Yemen and Alleged
Drone based Assassination Attempt on Venezuelan
President
In January 2019, the Houthi rebels launched a daring attack
on Al Anad base of the Lahij Governorate in Aden. The attack
was executed with application of Qasef drones during a military
parade wherein incoming drones exploded 20 metres above

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ground unleashing a downpour of shrapnels on key delegates
present there to witness the parade. The attack resulted in
killing six people while injuring 25 military personnel. Among
those who died in the attack was Major General Mohammad
Saleh Tamah, the head of Yemen’s intelligence agency.
Likewise, in August 2018, while the Venezuelan President
Nicolas Maduro was presiding over a military parade by the
Bolivarian National Guard, a wing of the Venezuelan Armed
Forces, at Avenida Bolivar in Caracas, two explosives laden
drones detonated in quick succession in the vicinity of the
Avenida Bolivar, triggering strong suspicion of Venezuelan
President being the real target of the drones, which had perhaps
missed him merely by a whisker. Later, investigations revealed
that the two drones were of DJI M-600 category, which are
easily available all over, and were packed with lightweight yet
effective C4 grade explosives.
Both the above-mentioned incidents brought in a new
dimension in the realm of threats to VIP protectees through
aerial means of assassination attempts by application of
drones, and which necessitates reengineering of security
protocols, and making anti-drone systems a critical part of
VIP protection entourage.

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The Impact of the Above-Mentioned Events
The four above-mentioned incidents invariably brought
the focus back to the development of both unmanned systems
capabilities, as well as adequate capacity building to counter
enemy drones. While there can never be any comparison
between India’s air defence capability vis-à-vis that of Armenia,
with India having massive edge on both counts of quantitative
and qualitative air-defence architecture when compared to
Armenia, nevertheless, the extensive application of seemingly
cost-effective drones in a real-time conflict between two
sovereign states invariably hold some valuable lessons for India
so far as future of warfare, limited or full-fledged, is concerned.
The concern arises primarily because it is widely anticipated
that drones would henceforth be used extensively both for
conventional and sub-conventional warfare, and by both state
actors as well as state sponsored non-state actors. Nowhere
else this is more relevant than it is in the realm of South Asian
theatre. In the realm of VIP protection as well, especially
for the security of the heads of states, drones definitely have
become a new headache necessitating additional precautions.
The bigger concern is the easy availability of quadcopters in
the ecommerce market and the ease with which seemingly
innocuous drones can be improvised into lethal assassination
machines by loading them with explosives that can be remotely
detonated.

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 It is also important to mention here that drones having
extremely small radar cross section signatures, make it
challenging for conventional radars associated with air
defence systems to identify them as enemy platforms. Often,
they are mistaken as birds thereby giving the incoming drones
the opportunity to bypass such systems and execute their
missions.
Pakistan’s Drone Acquisition Program: A Headache
for India
Reports of the recent past indicate that Pakistan is in
the process of acquiring a limited number of armed drones
from China. The Wing Loong II is a Medium Altitude Long
Endurance (MALE) Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicle
(UCAV) made by Chengdu Aircraft Industry of China.
Ostensibly supplied by China to Pakistan for security of China
Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), as well as the Gwadar
Port, the possibility of Pakistan also deploying the same for
anti-India activities cannot be ruled out. Especially, against
the backdrop of the Sino-Indian face-off in Eastern Ladakh
where China was apparently taken aback by India’s resilience
and mirror deployment of armed forces to match Chinese
presence, the possibility of China instigating Pakistan to do
something nefarious is always an open option and the chances
of use of drones in the same cannot be ruled out either. Further,
reports also indicate that China may coproduce 48 GJ-2 armed

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drones with Pakistan for use by Pakistan Armed Forces. Also,
it is only a matter of time before Pakistan possibly acquires
the TB-2 drones from Turkey.
The Challenge for India
Against this backdrop, the challenge for India is not just
the augmentation of UCAV fleet of Pakistan but also one
cannot rule out the possibility of Pakistan’s state backed non-
state actors using armed drones to attempt an Abqaiq-Khurais
kind of attack on India’s critical infrastructures. The reason
being that terror organisations across the world have shown a
penchant to target critical economic infrastructures of a nation
that may hurt the nation’s economy in the most profound
manner and debilitate its ability to keep the economy running
seamlessly. The attack on the Abqaiq-Khurais oil processing
facility as well as previous attacks on critical installations by
some of the most vicious non-state actors have vindicated the
importance of securing critical installations.
The Need for a Critical Infrastructure Protection
Act
While India’s lead agency for protection of critical
infrastructure, namely Central Industrial Security Force
(CISF) is now gradually getting prepared for dealing with the
menace of rogue drones, especially in the vicinity of critical
infrastructures, including airports, India may need to have a

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new set of critical infrastructure protection protocols preferably
through enactment of a Critical Infrastructure Protection Act.
While many of the states are following the CISF template to
create their own industrial security forces for securing critical
infrastructures in respective states, in this game of cat and
mouse, there is a perpetual need for improving the Standard
Operating Procedures (SOPs) all the time.
The Challenge from China’s Rapidly Increasing
Drone Arsenal
What also needs to be kept in mind are the strides made by
China in terms of development of high altitude and medium
altitude drones and the threat they pose for India. China’s
armed forces apparently seem to be in possession of BZK-
005, GJ-1 and GJ-2 drones in the Medium Altitude Long
Endurance (MALE) category, the latter two with ability to
launch missiles, primarily the KD-9/10 Laser Guided Anti-
Tank Missiles. Among those falling in the High-Altitude
Long Endurance (HALE) category of drones in Chinese
arsenal may include WZ-7 and WZ-8 drones with the latter
one, as per claims, having stealth capability and is powered by
a rocket engine with ability to fly at supersonic speed.
While some defence analysts apparently have been trying
to project a scenario that unmanned systems, especially the
aerial ones, would entirely alter the architecture of modern

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warfare thereby making manned systems entirely redundant,
the reality may be far from that. There is no doubt that drones
are definitely adding a new dimension to the warfare landscape,
but it is highly unlikely that conventional weapon systems
would lose their relevance merely because of the advent of
unmanned systems.
China’s domestic drone development capacity may be
presently a few notches higher than that of India, yet India’s
resilient armed forces have shown in Eastern Ladakh that a
perfect combination of battle-hardened men on ground armed
with conventional weapon systems, is any day way more
effective than men laced with fancy gadgets but with little
battle experience. Also, it has to be kept in mind that much
like rest of Chinese arsenal, its drones, especially the armed
ones, have not yet been tested in real time battlefield theatres
and thus remain paper tigers, at best, for the time being.
Therefore, analysis of capacity building for any nation in the
realm of military modernisation has to take into account the
entire gamut of modernisation instead of merely development
of drones. From this perspective, one has to consider how
India has worked on military modernisation over the last six
years, time since PM Modi led NDA came to power.

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India’s Military Modernisation Efforts in the Last
Six Years
Over the last six years, PM Modi led NDA Government has
been consistently plugging the security loopholes that plagued
India for years. Modi Government has been working tirelessly
to develop border infrastructure, especially along the Indo-
China border. It has started deploying several squadrons of
Akash Surface to Air Missiles (SAMs) and a dedicated regiment
of Brahmos cruise missiles for Northeast India , finished
construction of strategically important bridges like Bogibeel
bridge or tunnels like Atal Tunnel that has significantly reduced
deployment time frame for armed forces, raised a special
squadron of specially configured Su-30MKIs armed with
deadly Brahmos missiles to compliment the P8I Poseidons of
Indian Navy for keeping an eye on China’s Achilles’ Heel in
Malacca Strait in the Indian Ocean Region, sanctioned seven
more squadrons of Akash Surface to Air Missiles for Indian
Air Force, six additional Pinaka Regiments for Indian Army,
signed deals for S-400 air defence system , one more Akula
class nuclear submarine, four additional Krivak class frigates
from Russia, agreed for joint development of medium range
surface to air missiles (MR-SAM) with Israel for Indian Army,
procured state-of-the-art helicopters like Apache, Chinook
and MH-60, signed deals for M-777 ultra-light howitzers with
BAE Systems, Rafale fighters from Dassault of France, tested

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indigenously developed anti-satellite missile system, started
production of 16 Anti-Submarine Warfare Shallow Water
Craft, gave nod for construction of 7 new stealth frigates and
6 nuclear submarines, cleared purchase of 464 T-90 tanks
and 156 BMP-2 Infantry Combat Vehicles (ICVs), signed
contract with HAL for production of 73 Dhruv Advanced
Light Helicopters for Indian Armed Forces and a contract of
Rs 48,000 crore, also with HAL, for production of 83 Light
Combat Aircraft LCA Tejas MK1A , inducted a state of the art
Missile Tracking Ocean Surveillance Ship, started acquiring
high end drones from US, deployed tank regiments in Ladakh
even as India’s latest aircraft carrier, INS Vikrant, is on the
verge of getting commissioned by 2021.
Also, India’s Defence Acquisition Council has given nod
for 15 Light Combat Helicopters (LCH) and 12 more Su-
30MKI, as well as acquisition of 21 MiG-29 from Russia. It is
expected that the final sanction by the Cabinet Committee for
Security (CCS) for this would be given soon. Further, in 2018,
PM Modi led NDA Government approved Rs 32,000 crore
for capacity augmentation of Indian Coast Guard that includes
acquisition of patrol vessels, helicopters, and aircrafts with an
objective of making Indian Coast Guard equipped with a fleet
strength of 200 ships and 100 aircrafts by 2025.

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India’s Drone Story
As part of the above-mentioned modernisation programs, as
mentioned earlier, there is an active proposal for acquisition
of at least thirty armed drones for all the three wings of armed
forces, ten for each for the time being. This apart, Project
Cheetah that aims to arm at least 90 of India’s existing fleet
of Heron UAVs of Israeli origin, has already been given
green signal by Defence Acquisition Council and is expected
to get cabinet nod soon. Also, India is ramping up its border
surveillance architecture with induction of both drones
and anti-drone systems. BSF recently has got approval for
acquisition of 436 small and micro drones, which as part of
Comprehensive Integrated Border Management system would
see extensive application along with sensors and CCTVs
across almost 1900 border outposts that are manned by BSF
along Bangladesh and Pakistan border.
It is important to mention here the recent declaration by
Indian Air Force about its development of ‘Swarm Drone
technology’ that harnesses the forte of artificial intelligence to
bolster the combat prowess of unmanned systems. The tweet
by Indian Air Force read as follows, ‘Harnessing indigenous
talent and technological capability, IAF is leading the way
in using Artificial Intelligence to add to its combat potential.
Swarm drones is a prime example.’

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 Further, it has been reported that Indian Navy has shortlisted
Israeli SMASH 2000 fire control system for procurement for
application in anti-drone operations. Made by an Israeli firm
named Smart Shooter, SMASH 2000 systems have the ability
to locate and shoot down even high-speed drones.
Recent media reports also indicate that ITBP, which is
responsible for manning the Indo-China border would also
soon be given approval for equipping its forces with cutting
edge surveillance systems which, apart from Long Range
Reconnaissance and Observation Systems (LORROS), ATVs
and radars, also include UAVs to keep a hawk-eye vigil on
Chinese troop movements. These capacity developments
in ITBP would primarily be meant for equipping personnel
who would be deployed in the border outposts especially the
47 new Border Outposts that the Union Home Ministry has
recently given sanction to.
On the anti-drone system development sphere as well, some
major progress has been made. Reports indicate that DRDO
has already developed an anti-drone system and as per an
article titled, ‘DRDO ready with anti-drone system for armed
forces, PM Modi to have drone killer as part of his security
detail’ published in The Hindustan Times in November 2020,
Shishir Gupta writes, ‘The Defence Research and Development
Organization (DRDO) has designated Bharat Electronics as
the lead agency for development and production of much

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needed anti-drone system for the armed forces’.
The Hindustan Times article further states, ‘The anti-
drone system, which was deployed during 2020 Republic
and Independence Day, has a range of over two to three
kilometres with radar capability to pick up the drone and then
use frequencies to jam the unmanned aerial vehicle. The other
developed option includes spotting the drone through radar
and then targeting it by laser beam.’
In the realm of private sector as well, some positive results
can be seen in the development of anti-drone systems in India.
As per reports, a Bangalore based technology start-up namely
IIO Technologies has developed an anti-drone system which,
as per their claims, can detect drones up to a range of five
kilometres. It has also been reported that IdeaForge, one
of India’s leading manufacturers of UAVs, has tied up with
engineering giant L&T to develop both unmanned systems
and anti-drone solutions for the security agencies.
Making India Self Reliant in Drone Manufacturing
While India has made giant strides in the sphere of making
missiles and warships, in the realm of making drones, India
has quite a bit of distance to cover. However, it is not to say
that nothing is being developed or being made in India. In
the recent past, Indian Army ordered an unspecified number
of mini drones namely SpyLite from Cyient Solutions &

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Systems Pvt Ltd (CSS), which incidentally is a collaborative
venture between Blue Bird Aero Systems of Israel and Cyient
Ltd of India. Recently, Indian Army also signed a $20 million
(approximately Rs 140 crore) with IdeaForge for an unspecified
number of SWITCH UAV, which is a hybrid fixed wing
UAV with vertical take-off and landing capability (VTOL).
Recent reports also indicate that India may be acquiring a few
more Heron UAV embedded with satellite communication
architecture, specifically for LAC.

(Made in India: Indian Army has ordered SWITCH UAVS

worth $20 million from IdeaForge) Image Credit: IdeaForge)

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 DRDO has also supplied Indian Army with indigenously
developed Bharat drones for surveillance in Ladakh in the
midst of the Indo-China face-off there. Driven by Artificial
Intelligence based architecture with ability to distinguish
‘friend’ from ‘foe’, the Bharat Drones haves proved to be
extremely proficient in real time intelligence gathering and
surveillance amidst the immensely harsh climatic conditions
and low temperatures of Ladakh.
Apart from IdeaForge, many top Indian industrial
houses are also showing interest in venturing into the drone
development sector. Tata Advanced Systems from the Tata
Group has been making UAVs for quite some time now. There
were also reports in the recent past of Adani Group forming
joint venture with Elbit System of Israel to develop a large
array of drones ranging from the mini drones to the Medium
Altitude Long Endurance (MALE) Hermes 900 drones that
they intend to offer to Indian Armed Forces. Earlier this year,
it was also reported that the Adani-Elbit Joint Venture through
its production facility in Hyderabad has exported ‘hundreds of
Mini-UAV systems’ to a global customer.
With India’s armed forces slated to acquire more than 150
Medium Altitude Long Endurance (MALE) drones in the
coming years, and possibly an even more number of mini
drones, it is a real opportunity for India to become a major
manufacturing hub for high-end drones.

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 In October 2020 meanwhile, DRDO successfully flight
tested Rustom-2 Medium Altitude Long Endurance Drone,
which executed eight hours of flying at an altitude of 16,000
feet. Even though there were initial hiccups with the Rustom
program, it is expected that by the end of 2020, the Rustom-2
prototype would be able to endure at heights of around 26,000
feet for no less than 18 hours at a stretch.
There are also media reports surrounding DRDO’s secretive
Ghatak drone project which is supposedly an unmanned
combat aerial system with stealth capabilities. IIT Kanpur is
collaborating with DRDO on this project for the development
of the first prototype of Ghatak named SWiFT, which, as per
Livefist web portal, would be powered by a Russian NPO
Saturn 36MT turbo engine. Likewise, in the recent past reports
also emerged of Aeronautical Developmental Agency (ADA)
having collaborated with Indian Institute of Science (IISc) for
developing and successfully flight testing a delta winged UAV
prototype powered by a Micro Jet Engine Propulsion System.
Meanwhile, HAL is working on two drone projects namely
CATS WARRIOR and RUAV. As per reports, CATS or
Combined Air Teaming System is based on the concept of a
fighter jet (can be a Tejas or a Jaguar), acting as a mother
ship, along with a number of fixed wing combat drones, called
CATS WARRIOR, acting as wingman, with considerable
capacity for deep penetration strikes. RUAV on the other

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hand is a helicopter drone system that is being developed as
a payload delivery system for inaccessible and inhospitable
terrains.

(Prototype of CATS WARRIOR Drone of HAL @ Aero India

2021, Image Credit: Vayu Aerospace Review and Infotoline)
The Need for an Integrated Long Endurance Drone
Development Program
However, given the pace with which drones are altering the
landscape of warfare, a lot more is expected from DRDO and
ADA, in terms of expediting projects and reducing the time
lag between development of prototypes to final induction of

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unmanned systems platforms in armed forces. Given DRDO’s
success stories in the realm of missile development projects
and ISRO’s proficiency in space programs, it would be great
if DRDO and ISRO can join hands to develop world class
drones, with high levels of endurance and payload carrying
capacities, for Indian Armed Forces. It would be even better
if on the lines of Integrated Guided Missile Development
Program (IGMDP), an Integrated Long Endurance Drone
Development Program is formulated with participation from
DRDO, ISRO, ADA and private sector in the same.
Exploring the Potential of Public-Private
Partnership Model
Given India’s proficiency in industrial engineering and the
interest many of India’s engineering conglomerates showing to
enter the defence equipment manufacturing arena stimulated
also by PM Modi’s AtmaNirbhar Bharat Initiative, private
sector’s quest, and efforts to make India self-reliant in drone
manufacturing, either in collaboration with foreign companies
or through public-private partnership in collaboration with
public sector undertakings such as BHEL, BEL. HAL, NAL
or DRDO, would be a win-win situation for India primarily
because developing an indigenous supply chain instead of
depending on foreign vendors is extremely necessary in the
long run.

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 From DRDO’s collaboration with Indian private sector
for successful development of the Pinaka Rocket Systems to
development of ATAGS artillery guns, to ISRO’s collaboration
with numerous private sector enterprises to develop India’s
space programs, there are enough examples of successful
templates which can be emulated for development of high-
end drones in India.
Interestingly, the success of Turkish TB-2 drones made
by a private sector company named Baykar and spearheaded
by MIT returned Selcuk Bayraktar, which overshadowed
even Turkish Aerospace Industries to create better drones for
Turkish Armed Forces, is also a classic example to emulate in
India. Having evolved over the years, India now has a well-
entrenched ecosystem for tech start-ups, and as part of that, the
country has witnessed the proliferation of a large number of
start-ups focussing on drone manufacturing and development
of drone-based solutions. It should not come as a surprise if
some of them, with a certain level of hand-holding by the likes
of ISRO, DRDO, ADA or other agencies, emerge as makers of
world class military grade drones in the years to come.
On a Concluding Note…
The necessity of developing a completely indigenous drone
manufacturing architecture in India, from basic components to
finished products, also emanates from the fact that over the next

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one decade, India would possibly witness an exponential jump
in application of drones in the sphere of ecommerce, product
delivery as well as project surveys and even broadcasting.
With increasing use of drones also arises the possible cyber
security threats, including surreptitious transmission of drone
generated critical data without consent of end-users. There
have been murmurs surrounding the threat that arises from
application of Chinese drones in critical commercial and
infrastructure sectors. Therefore, it would be prudent for India
to make sure that India has adequate capacity development
in the realm of drone manufacturing so that dependence on
external sources of either drones or drone components is
nullified completely.
On a concluding note, it can be said that a considerable
amount of good work has been done by PM Modi led
NDA Government in terms of capacity augmentation and
modernisation of Indian Armed Forces. Modernisation of
India’s drone fleet and development of a fleet of armed
drones is definitely a critical part of the overall agenda of
the government. While drones are definitely adding a new
dimension in terms of the overall threat perspective from state
and non-state actors, it certainly does not mean that effectivity
of conventional warfare doctrines are getting obsolete. India
is well poised to take on the ensuing challenges of the future.

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