As drone threats rise, Army calls for new system to tackle menace

Ajay Banerjee

Advertisement

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, August 16

As threats from drones rise along the borders with Pakistan and China, the Ministry of Defence recently announced that it is looking for a new system with latest technology to counter drones. The Ministry of Defence (MoD) issued a request for information (RFI) — the first step in the acquisition process — listing out the requirements of the Army.

The Army is wanting a ground-based system, with latest 3D radars which can automatically detect drones. It is looking for a system that can detect drones with size ranging from 6 inches to 2 meters and which can carry up to 50 kg of load.

Along the India-Pakistan border, small drones dropping weapons and drugs is a major problem. Along the India-China boundary, the drones are used for spying. Sources said the fear of multiple drones being used by China cannot be ruled out. The Russia-Ukraine conflict and the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict demonstrated the use of drones with telling effect on tanks, ground troops and military convoys.

The MoD has named its requirement as ‘Anti UAS High Power Microwave System’. The acronym ‘UAS’ is military word for unmanned aerial systems.

The proposed system should have a surveillance, detection and tracking capability, microprocessor for computing a targeting solution that can destroy the enemy drone or disable it from a distance of 3 km.

The radar with the system should be able to detect and track targets and automatically assign which weapon needs to be used to bring down the threat. The Army wants a system that detects if the incoming threat is in the form of a ‘swarm’.

Also the system’s capability should be to track targets during day or night. The high-power microwave system jammer should be able to jam the frequency of the enemy drone.

For mobility, the Army wants that the system should be mounted on a vehicle and be capable of integration with the existing air defence weapons. The target is to deploy these systems in plains, desert and high altitude areas.

A provision for the system to process satellite feeds would be an added advantage, says the Army requirement. The MoD has asked the vendors to indigenously design, develop and manufacture the system and list out the details of imported parts in their system.