India to hold its biggest drone exercise seeking air defence boost

NEW DELHI: India’s military will test drone and counter drone systems next month in a major exercise to toughen its air defences, a senior officer said on Tuesday, months after a conflict with Pakistan saw the large-scale use of unmanned aerial systems (UAS).

Since the four-day clash, both neighbouring countries have ramped up drone development in what analysts describe as a drone arms race. India has also announced plans to build an indigenous air defence system, dubbed ‘Sudarshan Chakra’, by 2035 – an initiative officials have likened to Israel’s ‘Iron Dome’.

The Indian military will hold exercise ‘Cold Start’, its biggest ever drone war games, in the first week of October in the presence of defence industry officials and researchers, said Air Marshal Rakesh Sinha, deputy chief of the Integrated Defence Staff.

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“We will be testing some of our drones and counter-drone systems during this exercise … so that we can make our air defence system and counter-UAS completely robust,” he said on the sidelines of an industry event in New Delhi.

An Indian official described it as the biggest such domestic exercise since the Pakistan conflict, and said it would involve recreating some of the drone warfare that took place in May.

Drones and counter-drone systems will also be the baseline elements of the Sudarshan Chakra air defence system, which would also include aircraft and counter hypersonic systems, said Air Marshal Ashutosh Dixit, chief of the Integrated Defence Staff.

“They (Pakistan) are also working and becoming better. So, we have to go one step ahead,” he added.