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.

Expert Roundtable with NIDS Japan Delegation

The closed-door roundtable between Japan’s National Institute for Defense Studies and Indian experts at CSDR reviewed Indo-Pacific security shifts, major-power rivalry, and implications for regional alignment. It also discussed India-Japan defense cooperation, the Quad’s evolving role, and the increasing influence of the Global South in global governance.

The New Cold War and Changing Regional Orders

The roundtable discussion will examine how shifting geopolitics—from the Trump–Xi accord to Middle Eastern realignments and a possible Russia–Ukraine ceasefire—are reshaping India’s strategic environment. It will assess implications for ASEAN, Gulf energy, IMEC, and how India balances BRICS+ ambitions with practical security and supply-chain partnerships like the Quad.