Armed Drones: India's Post-Operation Sindoor UAV Plan

Four days of intense fighting last month between India and Pakistan was the first time the two arch-foes and nuclear-armed neighbours made a large-scale deployment of Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicles (UCAVs) against one another.

Sources from the Indian Army confirmed to Sputnik India that over 600 drones were neutralised by their air defence units alone.

"Over 600 drones were neutralised — a feat made possible by the swift deployment and resolute response of the Indian Army's AD systems," a defence source told Sputnik India.

The Indian Air Force (IAF) air defence network also contributed to shooting down a further 400 drones and missiles.

Credit for downing nearly 100 percent of Pakistani drones could belong to the robust and multi-layered Indian air defence, which countered Pakistani military attempts to inflict damage on the country's military installations and civilian areas.

Since New Delhi's success in its Operation Sindoor counter-terrorism mission against Pakistan, the role of UAVs has became a hot topic among Indian geopolitical and military pundits.

Drone Federation of India President Smit Shah said New Delhi is poised to invest nearly 500 million rupees in its military-industrial complex to build drones in the next two years.

Drones have played a crucial role in asymmetric warfare doctrine, enabling relatively weaker opponents to gain an edge over a stronger adversary without risking their own forces and minimising casualties.

Drones are expendable by nature and modern loitering munitions are specifically created as low-cost strike systems, making it uneconomic to intercept them using surface-to-air missiles.

Swarm drones take the concept to another level, potentially overwhelming air defence surveillance radars by saturating them with targets.

Although the development of Directed Energy Weapons like lasers or microwave beams could provide hard-kill and soft-kill capabilities against drones, the weapons still present challenges.

They could be utilised for reconnaissance by drawing fire towards themselves to map out enemy defences, without jeopardizing the pilot's life.

India is developing an indigenous kamikaze drone with stealth features dubbed the SWiFT-K, Anantha Krishnan, a former spokesman for aviation giant Hindustan Aeronautics Limited.

"The primary goal of developing the Ghatak/SWiFT UICAV platform was to establish a robust, low-observable and survivable UCAV system capable of executing Suppression of Enemy Air Defences and missions, as well as conducting air-ground interdiction strikes," stressed Abhijit Apsingikar, a senior analyst specialising in military drones at GlobalData, an international aerospace market intelligence firm headquartered in London.

Looking ahead, the focus of development is expected to shift towards accelerating the Manned-Unmanned Teaming (MUM-T) System program and implementing it across the majority of the MiG-29, SU-30 MKI and LCA fleets, he added.

The private sector is anticipated to play a vital role in the advancement of high-end surveillance Medium Altitude Long Endurance (MALE) UAVs, High Altitude Long Endurance (HALE) UAVs and UCAVs, particularly within the MUM-T framework. Companies such as Adani and TATA are actively involved in the production of MALE UAVs or are in the process of developing dedicated HALE UAVs, the market insider noted.

"Several private firms have also developed loitering munitions. While TATA has created the ALS-50 loitering munition, Solar Group has developed the Nagastra loitering platform," Apsingikar stated, while "companies like Johnnette and Kadet Defence Systems have produced their own lightweight loitering munitions."

As the emphasis shifts towards integrating loitering munitions with the Manned-Unmanned Teaming System and weaponizing them, private sector partners like NewSpace Research and Technologies and TATA Elxsi are expected to play a role in the development of the CATS Warrior UCAV concept and the CATS ALFA-S Swarm Drone System, he pointed out.

The pundit said the Indian drone industry's continued reliance on imports — particularly for electronics and microchip components necessary for developing navigation and imaging subsystems — was a major problem.

"While India has significant original design capabilities, it lacks a robust electronics and semiconductor manufacturing industry, especially in fabrication," Apsingikar stressed.

"The current initiatives by Indian companies to develop greenfield semiconductor manufacturing capabilities domestically, supported by the government, represent a positive advancement," he underscored.

But despite those efforts, it is unlikely that India will "quickly close the capability gap in high-end sub-10nm semiconductor chips, which will still need to be imported."

Apsingikar said the Indian drone industry is likely to continue adapting imported commercial off-the-shelf semiconductor components like MEMS circuits to create customised systems and assemblies until domestic industry can replace imported them.

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