The real drone war is yet to come
Preparing for the future means thinking beyond the victories of Operation Sindoor
Drones are changing war and India must catch up
The Indian military will have to evolve a comprehensive doctrine around drone warfare. Fundamental changes would have to be made in how the Army fights.
Recasting India’s Air Defence Architecture: Countering the Drone and Swarm Threat
This report argues that India’s traditional air defence (AD) architecture—reliant on expensive, centralized missile systems—is becoming obsolete against the proliferating threat of low-cost, autonomous drone swarms. The May 2025 “Operation Sindoor” crisis exposed a critical “cost asymmetry”: expending million-dollar interceptors against disposable $2,000 FPV drones is economically unsustainable, allowing adversaries to easily exhaust India’s magazine depth.
India’s Drone Imperative: Securing Air Superiority Against China and Pakistan by 2030
India faces a critical 2030 deadline to achieve drone superiority against China’s AI-enabled warfare capabilities and Pakistan’s asymmetric drone strategy. Despite progress with MQ-9B acquisitions and indigenous development, supply chain vulnerabilities and bureaucratic gaps threaten India’s goals. A unified National Mission for Unmanned Systems is essential for strategic security.