The IAF has developed a low-cost C-UAS that can jam and spoof hostile UAVs. The C-UAS was unveiled at Aero India 2023 in Bangalore in February. (Janes/Oishee Majumdar)

The proliferation of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), and the ways in which these platforms are leveraged by India’s adversaries, has pushed the country to prioritise the development of counter-unmanned aircraft systems (C-UASs).

On the one hand, India is concerned about China and Pakistan’s growing arsenal of military UAVs, which are often operated in an intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) role along disputed borders with India. On the other hand, New Delhi is wary about the increasing use of UAVs – however crude – by non-state actors, particularly in areas bordering Pakistan such as Jammu and Kashmir and Punjab.

A militant attack in June 2021 targeting the Indian Air Force (IAF) Station Jammu using two explosive-laden UAVs proved to be a wake-up call for the Indian Armed Forces to improve C-UAS capabilities.

In the past two years, there has been a sharp rise in the frequency of detected or captured UAVs dropping weapons, money, or narcotics into India. According to Janes