Indian Army preparing to counter Pakistani drones
Chandigarh, December 4 : Amid increased incidents of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles bringing drugs, arms, and ammunition from across the border in Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir, the Indian Army is preparing to counter drones sent from Pakistan.
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General Officer Commanding in Chief Indian Army's Western Command Lt Gen Nav Kumar Khanduri on Saturday said, "There are preparations going on to counter drones sent from across the border. In recent as informed by BSF, 7-8 drones were shot down near the Punjab border. They recovered narcotics and other things from them."
The Border Security Force (BSF) has shot down a record 16 drones so far this year and the force has adopted an anti-drone system and in-depth patrolling to tackle the menace that poses security threats.
BSF Director General Pankaj Singh earlier said the force hasn't yet achieved complete success on the drone front but there have been major achievements this year due to three-four measures adopted by the force.
"As we see the new challenge on the border in terms of drones, we haven't yet achieved success on that level if we talk about the issue in one go. That's why we have tried three-four ways and it is giving very good results," BSF DG said.
"We have installed some anti-drone systems on some specific locations (along the India-Pakistan border). As the border is very wide, an anti-drone system cannot be installed at all places. The system would be installed at more places one by one."
Besides, Singh said BSF has started three-four km of in-depth patrolling so that the person trying to pick up the illegal items dropped by these drones can be caught.
"We have also given very good incentives to our jawans who shoot these drones. Due to these efforts, we have shot down 16 drones this year till November whereas only one drone was shot down last year. The number of drones shot down by the force till the end of this year may increase to 25," he said.
Women personnel of the BSF shot down a Hexacopter drone weighing 18.050 kg on Monday near Chaharpur village in Amritsar (Rural) district in Punjab when it was entering Indian territory from Pakistan. The drone was carrying 3.110 kg of narcotics.
The BSF DG also pointed out that information can be gathered from the chip analysis of these drones.
"With the analysis of the chips in the drones, we can get details about the route taken by it and its flying zone, as well as its origin. We will get more success after analysis of the chips used in these drones," he said.
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Several cases have been reported where drones coming from Pakistan side have dropped consignments of drugs, guns and money in Jammu and Kashmir and Punjab.
- PTC NEWS