Vijay Mohan

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, January 22

The large-scale proliferation of commercially available mini drones and quadcopters has prompted the Army to develop counter measures against such gadgets being used for surveillance in border areas and other sensitive installations.

These small yet maneuverable vehicles have very less radar cross section which makes it difficult to detect and counter them. At present, sentries at border posts detect aerial violation by the enemy on the basis of sound or other visual signature, if any, which does not give out the position and the type of equipment.

According to sources, various unmanned aerial vehicles have been regularly sighted by troops along the Line of Control and tactical headquarters in the vicinity that are being used to spy on defences, posts and troop movements. Detecting and identifying such vehicles at night, which can be equipped with infra-red or thermal imagers, adds to the problem. If sighted, these can only be shot down by troops with rifles or machine guns.

The Directorate of Air Defence is overseeing the project. The Army expects the feasibility study to take around two years, with other two or three years for developing a technology solution.

Current situation