Indian Army Inducts Swarm Drones; How Will They Help?

New Delhi: The Indian Army will be inducting swarm drones into its mechanised forces.

The logic behind embracing such ‘disruptive technologies’ is to give an edge to the Armed forces in meeting future security challenges.

Last month, the Defence Ministry had approved procurement proposals worth Rs 28,732 crore, including swarm drones, for the Armed forces.

“In recent conflicts across the world, drone technology proved to be a force multiplier in military operations. Accordingly, to augment the Indian Army’s capability in modern warfare, AoN for procurement of autonomous surveillance and armed drone swarms has been accorded by the DAC under Buy (Indian-IDDM) category,” the ministry stated.

In January, India became the fourth country — after China, Russia and the UK — to carry out a large-scale show with 1,000 drones – during the Beating the Retreat ceremony.

Botlab, a startup from IIT-Delhi, organized a show with nearly 1,000 drones to commemorate 75 years of India’s Independence.

‘Drone swarms’ has become a new means in military operations, where several small drones are programmed to hit a target in a coordinated manner.

The Indian Army recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Drone Federation of India for collaboration towards promoting research, development, testing and manufacturing of drones, counter-drone and associated technologies that can assist the Indian Army in its operations.