Drones dropping bombs serious threat: BSF DG
NEW DELHI, July 2: The drone strikes in Jammu airbase was an act of terror that was aimed at targeting key military assets, Air Chief Marshal RKS Bhadauria said today asserting that the Indian Air Force is in the process of bolstering its capabilities to deal with such security challenges.
The Chief of Air Staff said the IAF has carried out a detailed analysis in terms of implications of drones and other similar capabilities falling into the hands of non-state actors, and taking a series of measures to counter them.
“What happened at Jammu was essentially a terrorist act which attempted to target our assets there. The attempt failed of course. The assets were not damaged. Two explosives were used,” he said in an interactive session at a think tank.
Explosives-laden drones were used to carry out an attack on the Jammu Air Force station on Sunday in the first such instance of suspected Pakistan-based terrorists deploying unmanned aerial vehicles to strike at vital military installations in India.
The Chief of Air Staff said a detailed investigation into the attacks was underway and that all sets of measures would be on the table based on the findings of the probe.
“We have gone over the subject in terms of the implications of this kind of capabilities in the hands of non-state actors and the kind of effect the armed drone capabilities would have in future conflicts,” Air Chief Marshal Bhadauria said.
He said the IAF analysed a large extent the requirements in terms of planning and required systems and infrastructure to enhance its abilities to go for “soft kill” and to have a counter-drone system.
“It should be possible to react in the short notice; detect, quickly react and be able to target it and that targeting is essentially directed energy kind of targeting in terror attack kind of a situation,” the IAF chief said.
“All these issues have been looked at and many of the projects have already been undertaken and some of the systems were already fielded,” he said.
He said the Jammu Air Force station did not have critical assets and systems to detect drones were not fielded there
Referring to the attacks, he said there was no visibility when the incident took place.
“Very soon we will have enough systems and we will target.. We will find ways to tackle this threat,” the Air chief Marshal said.
Meanwhile, the recent incident of drones dropping bombs on the Indian Air Force base in Jammu is “very serious and very dangerous”, and there is an urgent need to develop technology to counter this challenge, Border Security Force chief Rakesh Asthana said today.
He said the force, which guards over 6,300 kms of India’s land border with Pakistan in the west and Bangladesh on the east, is faced by four main challenges on the security front.
These are detection of underground tunnels along the international border with Pakistan, presence of electronic devices used by anti-national elements in the frontier areas, emergence of drones and issues of poor mobile connectivity in remote areas.
These scenarios “directly impact” the efficacy of operations and border domination activities of the Border Security Force (BSF), Asthana said.
“There is an urgent requirement to develop anti-drone technology to stop the menace of drones, being used for narco-terrorism and attacks on vital installations,” he said during a webinar.
The BSF Director General (DG) was speaking at the launch of a hackathon on finding cost-effective innovative technology solutions by startups and premier institutions for the force. It has been organised under the banner of the BSF High-tech Undertaking for Maximising Innovation (BHUMI) in collaboration with the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY).
“Recently, you all must have seen on TV channels the attacks, first time in the history, through drones on the Indian Air Force (IAF) base in Jammu,” the DG said.
“The drones have been used by the enemy country and by the criminal elements for bringing in not only weapons, ammunition and narcotics, but now since they are used for carrying payloads that is being used to drop bombs also which is something very serious and very dangerous,” Asthana said.
The DG said drones posed a challenge “not only on the western borders but are being used off late by naxalites also in left wing extremism affected areas.”
“That area also deserves a lot of attention as far as security operations are concerned,” he said, adding that anti-drone technology is a “key area” of work for the largest border guarding force of the country with about 2.65 lakh personnel.
The BSF chief admitted that it has not been able to find solutions to detect tunnels.
“One of the main challenges the BSF presently faces is the detection of cross-border underground tunnels along the western borders that brings serious implications on our national security,” Asthana said.
“These tunnels are not only being used for pushing in infiltrators from across the border but also being used to transport or smuggle in narcotics into our country,” he said.
It is high time, Asthana said, that concerted result-oriented efforts are made to address the subject of detection of underground tunnels with innovative technological solutions.
“So far, after a lot of efforts, we have not been able to find a solution to identify and detect tunnels from above the ground. So, this is one challenging area where we have to work,” the DG said.
According to data, 17 such structures have been detected by the BSF along the Pakistan border area in the last two decades.
Asthana said another vital area of operational significance for the BSF is the need to develop technological solutions in detecting presence of “electronic devices” in its operational areas.
These are being utilised by anti-national elements for perpetrating crimes and activities that have a direct bearing on the country’s national security, he said.
“Terrorists who are operating within our territory or the criminals, organised gangs who are indulging in smuggling activities particularly in narcotics are using various technological devices which has a bearing on our security scenario,” Asthana said.
The BSF chief asked technology innovators to provide automated communication systems and mobile telephony solutions for its troops who are deployed in remote areas “characterised by difficult and undulating terrain that include long stretches of shadow area where there is no communication.”
“There are so many areas in the west and east particularly in the north-east where we feel difficult to communicate particularly the troops cannot communicate with their family members through mobiles or any other technology,” he said.
Asthana shared a personal experience of staying at a BSF post located in a shifting sand dunes desert area of Rajasthan where there “was no mobile communication for full 24 hours but had only wireless communication.”
The BSF chief assured the participants of the hackathon that it will provide them all logistical support when their analysts and engineers visit a forward area and said “any product found suitable will be explored for procurement on trial basis…”.(PTI)
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