General
Globally, the domain of defence drone technology is witnessing a substantial increase in product development efforts. For instance, in June 2025, several news outlets reported that Chinese defence scientists had unveiled a prototype of a mosquito-sized drone. This is a significant development and, as the technology is developed further, it will enable China to conduct reconnaissance missions in uncharted areas. On its part, Ukraine has repurposed drones to launch grenade attacks on Russian infantry formations. Lately, social media handles reported about a Ukrainian first-person-view drone which is capable of carrying a 155mm artillery shell and striking enemy positions. Entities in Israel, Türkiye, and India are developing drones that can integrate small arms to engage enemy targets. While these innovations are changing the very nature of warfare, they also pose significant operational challenges, particularly from a defender’s perspective. Unfortunately, the pace of innovation in the counter-drone systems domain is significantly slower in comparison to developments occurring in drone warfare.
India needs to step up its indigenous procurement efforts, invest in capacity building and training, and foster increased collaboration between the military and civilian stakeholders.
During the recent conflict with Pakistan, Indian security forces were successful in fending off drone attacks launched by Pakistan. While the operations were a success, India must continue fine-tuning its operational response, enhance preparedness, strengthen research, and maintain a state of constant alertness on its borders. This is important, considering that on its part, Pakistan will also draw critical operational lessons from its failure, assess the strategies and tactics employed, types of systems used, and their relative effectiveness. India needs to step up its indigenous procurement efforts, invest in capacity building and training, and foster increased collaboration between the military and civilian stakeholders.
General Working with strategic partners to facilitate cross-learning on counter-drones
The collaborative approach is critical, given that drone warfare can cause secondary impacts such as debris, fires, and panic among civilians. There is a need for regular exercises involving district administrations, disaster management authorities, and residents in border districts to generate awareness, enhance preparedness, and foster better responses to situations involving rogue drones. This is particularly important along India’s northern, western, and eastern borders.
The collaborative approach is critical, given that drone warfare can cause secondary impacts such as debris, fires, and panic among civilians.
Drone warfare is a work in progress, and each country is grappling with similar challenges while seeking insights. Given this, it is pertinent for security forces to derive operational lessons from drone attacks and their mitigation techniques observed in global conflicts. Within the larger industry, media, and strategic community, several proposals have called for global collaboration in the counter-drone domain. For instance, in his article for the May 2023 issue of Security Today magazine, industry official Rajan Luthra proposed collaboration with other countries on counter drones, including through the QUAD & I2U2 (India, Israel, United Arab Emirates and United States) frameworks. On the other hand, Drone Helpline has identified in their article the merits of global cooperation, including those involving militaries for the development of counter-drone technology & response. Building on the success it achieved during Operation Sindoor on the counter-drone front, India needs to initiate collaborative frameworks with friendly foreign countries and strategic partners to facilitate cross-learning in this niche domain.
General Multinational Military Exercises on Counter-Drone Systems
India must, therefore, take the lead in hosting a series of bilateral and multinational counter-drone exercises involving a diverse set of stakeholders to enhance operational understanding on drone warfare and attack methodologies employed by state and non-state actors across diverse geographies. These exercises can also serve as important reference points to familiarise participants with the distinct set of problem statements faced by global militaries, raise awareness of technological upgrades in this domain, and track evolving end-user requirements worldwide. For instance, in March 2025, the Joint Counter-Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems Office in the US collaborated with RAND Corporation to organise a tabletop exercise to identify scenarios, response mechanisms, and coordination aspects among stakeholders—enabling the US military’s Northern Command to guard military sites against rogue drones.
It would perhaps be worth exploring whether the next set of military cooperation arrangements between India and its foreign partners could include provisions for hosting bilateral and multinational exercises on counter-drone strategies and systems. Within India and globally, there have already been some instances of such exchanges to address the threat of rogue drones. In September 2024, Indian and Israeli officials participated in a seminar in New Delhi, where the nature of the rogue drone threat and solutions to counter it were discussed. India and France also recently conducted a military exercise in southern France that included counter-drone systems.
Partners in the Gulf region can help India understand how these countries protect not only military installations but also high-value civilian assets from drone threats posed by non-state actors.
Considering the technology-centric nature of drone warfare, there is a need to include operators from original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), solution providers, and select members of the innovation community in discussions held on the sidelines of such proposed military exercises. In addition to operational insights, these exercises can present a unique opportunity for innovators and Indian OEMs to fine-tune their innovation and development efforts to cater to global requirements. In the United States, private industry members are frequently involved in military exercises such as Project Convergence Capstone. NATO, too, recognises the importance of involving the private sector in strengthening military preparedness.
Involving Indian counter-drone solution providers and OEMs in the proposed exercises can also provide avenues for cementing innovation, co-development, and co-manufacturing partnerships with foreign solution providers, similar to the Autonomous Systems Industry Alliance between India and the United States. India must foster cooperation with countries such as Russia, Israel, France, strategic partners in the Gulf region, the United States, etc., in the domain of counter-drones. For instance, collaboration with Israel and Russia can help India derive important insights into civil-military cooperation for crisis response during drone attacks. Partners in the Gulf region can help India understand how these countries protect not only military installations but also high-value civilian assets from drone threats posed by non-state actors. Collaboration with the Gulf region can also present a significant opportunity for the export of India’s counter-drone systems. With countries such as the United Kingdom and the United States, there is considerable scope for deriving learnings on counter-drone strategies employed by militaries in counter-terrorist operations, protecting advancing military columns from drone threats in battlefield conditions, guarding military installations, and countering underwater drone threats. Such interfacing can help formulate military strategy, update standard operating procedures, chart roadmaps for innovation and manufacturing, and guide procurement efforts.
Sanket Sudhir Kulkarni was a Fellow at the Observer Research Foundation.
The views expressed above belong to the author(s). ORF research and analyses now available on Telegram! Click here to access our curated content — blogs, longforms and interviews.