Western Command validates operational preparedness of new Ashni specialist drone platoons

Field formations under the Western Command reviewed and validated the operational preparedness of newly raised Ashni platoons, which are specialised drone units integrated with Infantry battalions, during the ongoing integrated all-arms Exercise Ram Prahaar.

“An invisible #ThirdEye, #ASHNI enables real-time tactical level reconnaissance, surveillance and lethal mini-UAS precision strike capability of each Infantry Battalion of formations of #KhargaCorps,” the Western Command posted on its X handle on Sunday.

With the proliferation of drones across the battle space down to the tactical level, the Army has raised about 380 new specialist drone platoons. Designated ‘Ashni’, which means fire, each such platoon comprises about 25 specially trained personnel equipped with different types of drones.

The drones on the inventory of battalions are those meant for surveillance and recce as well as armed ones, including Kamikaze drones and precision ammunition dropping unmanned aerial vehicles. These tactical drones are smaller, having a range of a few kilometers and fly at lower heights as compared to the larger unmanned aerial systems employed for medium and long range missions by the armed forces.

Forming Ashni platoons is a key part of the Army’s modernisation efforts to develop ‘drone-first’ tactics and adopt counter evolving threats aimed at providing enhanced situational awareness, precision targeting and real-time intelligence as well as counter drone defence capabilities to infantry units through drone technology.

The Ashni platoons are in sync with other ongoing modernisation and restructuring moves like forming the Bhairav battalions and Rudra brigades, designed to enhance the Army’s offensive capabilities.

The Bhairav battalions are structured, trained and equipped for special operations and likely to be a bridge between the regular infantry and the elite special forces. Five such battalions, with about 250 soldiers, have already been operationalised and another four are in the process of being formed. The Army’s plans call for a total of 25 such battalions, all of which are expected to be complete next year.

The Rudra Brigades are the Army’s new, integrated combat formations that combine various arms such as infantry, armour, artillery and support elements under a single command to enhance battlefield cohesion, mobility and offensive capability by having all the necessary fighting elements permanently integrated, rather than assembled only after mobilisation.

Two Rudra Brigades have already been raised. The traditional brigades that these would eventually replace are single arms formations, that is each brigade is composed of units of the same arm or service like the infantry, armour or artillery.