‘Drones a decisive force, army boosting capabilities’

Army chief General Upendra Dwivedi said drones have become a defining force in modern conflict, and outlined India’s plans for a tiered, networked drone capability fused with artillery, air defence, electronic warfare and intelligence systems.

- Rahul Singh

In an interview to HT, he also said the army's restructuring is designed to deliver more decisive battlefield outcomes; agreements with China on disengagement along the Line of Actual Control have led to both sides showing greater responsiveness and sensitivity to each other's concerns; and Operation Sindoor demonstrated that India’s future responses will not be constrained by Pakistan's nuclear blackmail. Edited excerpts:

Recent conflicts have shown drones are no longer niche platforms. They can stalk armour, guide precision fires, support logistics, relay communications and influence the information space. Also, hostile unmanned systems have made detection, jamming, spoofing and neutralisation a frontline necessity. So, when we speak of drones today, we must also speak of counter-UAS (unmanned aerial systems), electronic warfare, air defence, secure networks and data fusion. Our drone capability will be tiered, role-based and networked. The real value will come when drone feeds are fused with artillery, air defence, aviation, intelligence, electronic warfare and ground manoeuvre through secure networks, enabling a faster sensor-to-shooter cycle. In multi-domain operations, no single domain decides the outcome by itself. Ground action, cyber effects, electronic warfare, space-based support, information operations and precision fires must work in concert. Our effort is to move from domain silos to domain fusion, where the seams between services and domains reduce progressively. This is why we are focusing on joint doctrines, MDO (multi-domain operations) war-gaming, electronic warfare brigades, cyber electromagnetic activities, information warfare structures and data-centric command systems.