The want for an anti-drone system shielding essential installations within the nation got here underneath sharp focus after Sunday’s drone attack on an IAF base in Jammu, 14 km from the worldwide border.
A safety officer instructed The Indian Express: “At present, the only option is to shoot down the drones, but it is easier said than done as that would require sniper fire and the drone to be within range. Also, sighting drones, especially during night, is not easy.”
While the Jammu attack was the primary such occasion in India the place a drone was weaponised, essentially the most excessive-profile incident in latest instances involving a drone, maybe, was the focused bombing of two key oil amenities inside Saudi Arabia by Yemen’s Houthi rebels in 2019.
Drones have additionally been more and more used within the Middle East, significantly in Iraq and Syria, by the US to hold out focused assassinations. In 2020, Iranian basic Qasem Soleimani, essentially the most highly effective determine in Iran after its supreme chief, was killed in a US drone strike in Iraq. In 2018, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro additionally claimed he survived an assassination try involving drones rigged with explosives.
How to counter the drone risk?
Several non-public defence contractors, through the years, have begun to supply off-the-shelf anti-drone tech to counter hostile Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), popularly generally known as drones.
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Companies, predominantly primarily based out of Israel, US, and even China, have developed anti-drone programs utilizing present applied sciences equivalent to radars, frequency jammers, optic and thermal sensors and many others.
But how do these programs stand aside?
It comes right down to the vary and the style by which the risk is assessed and neutralised. Some programs merely monitor and alert the presence of a drone, whereas others are geared up with ballistics and even lasers.
What are the present anti-drone programs?
Rafael, the defence firm behind Israel’s famed Iron Dome missile system, has additionally developed one thing known as the Drone Dome. Like the Iron Dome, which identifies and intercepts incoming missiles, the Drone Dome detects and intercepts drones.
Besides the gathering of static radars, radio frequency sensors, and cameras it makes use of to supply “a 360-degree coverage”, the Drone Dome can be able to jamming the instructions being despatched to a hostile drone and blocking visuals, if any, which might be being transmitted again to the drone operator. Its spotlight, nevertheless, is the precision with which it will probably shoot excessive-powered laser beams to convey down targets.
One of the corporate’s promotional movies claims that it’s secure for deployment in civilian areas as “the laser beam is never released unless it is 100 per cent locked onto the target”. Rafael, like most different firms, says its know-how works underneath all-climate situations and at evening time.
US-primarily based Fortem Technologies additionally operates in a related trend however makes use of an interceptor drone — aptly known as the ‘DroneHunter’ — to pursue and seize hostile drones. The DroneHunter fires from its ‘NetGun’ a spider internet-formed web to seize targets midair and tow them.
Besides the common detection and surveillance, DroneDefend, an Australian publicly listed firm, additionally presents a moveable resolution within the type of a drone gun that may be used to level and ‘shoot’. The firm’s DroneGun Tactical and DroneGun MKIII interact in radio frequency disruption that can disrupt the hostile drone’s video feed and drive it to land on the spot or return to the operator.
How a lot do they price?
Most of the main gamers within the drone detection trade haven’t listed the costs of their merchandise on their web sites. Considering that the majority orders are customised primarily based on shopper necessities and what number of strategic websites want defending, prices range from a whole lot of hundreds of dollars to even tens of millions.
However, a 2020 press launch by China-based DJI attacking certainly one of its company rivals presents an perception into how a lot they might price. The firm mentioned its rival provided “a $340,000 drone detection system with a $44,000 annual maintenance fee”.
Is there an indigenous resolution for India?
Yes, there may be. The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has developed an ‘Anti Drone System’ and it’ll be deployed this 12 months, in line with a March press launch by the Ministry of Defence.
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While particulars concerning the system’s capabilities stay threadbare, it has been deployed throughout then US President Donald Trump’s go to to India in 2020. According to information company PTI, the system was a part of the safety preparations made for the 22km-lengthy roadshow in Ahmedabad.
The identical 12 months it was once more used close to the Red Fort on the event of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Independence Day handle. According to information company ANI, the anti-drone system can detect and jam drones as much as 3km and makes use of a laser weapon to fireside at targets which might be 1 to 2.5km away.
In March, CNBC-TV18 additionally reported that Adani Defence Systems and Technologies Ltd has demonstrated an anti-drone system to authorities companies.