How India and Pakistan's drone battles mark a new arms race in South Asia

On the night of May 8, 2025, bright red flares tore across the skies above Jammu, India, as air-defense systems scrambled to intercept swarms of incoming drones from Pakistan.

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Though tensions between India and Pakistan are not new, the four-day military engagement that followed was a milestone: it marked the first significant use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in direct combat between the two nuclear-armed nations.

This high-tech, low-cost skirmish signals a turning point. Rather than relying solely on fighter jets or missile systems, India and Pakistan have entered a new arms race—this time centered on drones.

The appeal is clear: UAVs allow states to strike military targets while minimizing risk to pilots and expensive aircraft, avoiding the sort of escalation that could lead to full-scale war.

A CHANGING BATTLEFIELD

Historically, military confrontations between India and Pakistan have relied on artillery shelling, aerial dogfights, and covert operations, especially in the disputed Kashmir region. But the May clashes showcased how UAVs are changing the rules of engagement.

According to Indian officials, Pakistan launched an unprecedented swarm of 300-400 drones along a 1,700-kilometer frontier, using a mix of Turkish and domestically-produced UAVs to probe Indian defenses across 36 locations.

Among these were the YIHA-III drones, co-developed with Turkish contractor Baykar and assembled in Pakistan, as well as Shahpar-II UAVs by state-owned Global Industrial & Defence Solutions.

Indian officials responded with countermeasures using Cold War-era anti-aircraft guns enhanced with modern radar from Bharat Electronics Ltd.

These outdated weapons, surprisingly, were able to shoot down many drones effectively.

Simultaneously, India retaliated with its own drone strikes using Israeli HAROP loitering munitions, Polish WARMATE UAVs, and indigenous drones.

HAROPs—known as suicide drones—loiter over a target area before crashing into targets with explosive payloads, offering high-precision attacks with minimal risk.