The Indian Air Force (IAF) has called on the defence industry to develop a multi-domain aerial system capable of defending sensitive installations against drone swarm attacks. This request comes as drones increasingly dominate modern warfare, with swarm drones posing a critical threat.

Drone swarms can either be remotely controlled or autonomously pre-programmed to carry out surveillance or attack missions, functioning as force multipliers. When deployed in large numbers, relatively inexpensive drones can effectively overwhelm the capacity of C-UAS defences.

In the second edition of Acing Development of Innovative Technologies with Innovations for Defence Excellence (iDEX), launched by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on October 7, the IAF outlined its need for a counter-swarm drone system, according to Indian media sources. This system must be capable of being launched through various platforms, including individuals, vehicles, tubes, aerostats, or balloons.

The IAF’s document highlights the growing threat of long-range swarm drones to vital installations, noting that their interception requires substantial infrastructure and high per-weapon costs. Drone swarms often possess distributed intelligence, with individual drones programmed for various tasks such as communication, carrying munitions or navigation.

To counter this, the IAF is seeking an autonomous swarm drone interceptor system capable of detecting, identifying, disrupting, neutralising and destroying hostile drones. The desired system should use multiple drones to disrupt communications, create confusion with smoke or optical disruptors and employ both “soft kill” and “hard kill” methods. This could involve jamming signals, disrupting navigation, or physically destroying the swarm.

The drones must be able to loiter above installations, awaiting incoming threats, and then neutralise them using various technologies such as electromagnetic pulses, sensor disruption or kinetic methods. The system is expected to operate at altitudes of 16,000 feet or higher.

The IAF also specified that the counter-drone system must be portable, able to be transported by road, rail, ship or aircraft for rapid deployment. Additionally, it s seeking a system that is compatible with existing IAF networks, ensuring seamless integration with command and control systems, communications and identification systems for distinguishing between friendly and hostile drones.

Post Image – Indian Defence Minister, Rajnath Singh, addresses attendees at DefConnect 4.0 to launch the second edition of Acing Development of Innovative Technologies with iDEX (Post Image Credit: Indian Ministry of Defence)