Vijay Mohan
Chandigarh, December 28
The Punjab frontier remained the most active sector in the year 2022 amongst the four states that share the International Border with Pakistan, which is a nearly four-fold increase in hostile drone activity being reported.
The spike in drone activity has prompted the BSF to initiate several counter measures such as setting up a special center to train personnel in dealing with the threat from drones, establishing operational protocols and upgrading technical capability.
From January 1 to December 28, there have been 254 drone activities in Punjab as compared to 67 in 2021, according to Border Security Force (BSF) sources. This includes 221 activities detected inside Indian territory and 22 inside Pakistan.
The activity in Punjab accounts for about 84 per cent of the total drone activities reported along the entire western border this year.
In 226 out of the aforementioned instances this year, the spotted drones were fired upon by BSF personnel. Last year, the number of firing instances was only 43.
The data also reveals that in 2022, nine drones were shot down by the BSF and another 12, which may have landed or fallen due to other reasons, were recovered as compared to just a single drone being recovered last year. Another four drones were recovered by the Punjab Police this year.
Across the entire western border, that runs through the states of Gujarat, Rajasthan, Punjab and the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K), the number of drone activities has witnessed a three-fold increase, from 100 last year to 304 this year.
Rajasthan reported the second highest number of drone activities this year, with 29 detections compared to six last year. Last year, J&K had reported 25 activities, second highest after Punjab, but this year the number came down to 16.
BSF data also shows that this year about 80 per cent of the drone detections were inside the Indian territory as compared to 64 per cent last year. Drones were fired upon in 80 per cent of the instances this year as compared to 53 per cent last year.
Drones, of various sizes and payload carrying capacity, are being increasingly used to smuggle narcotics, weapons and ammunition and fake currency from Pakistan. Most of the drone activity is at night when it is difficult to spot them. In winters, thick fog cover during the day also hampers detection
Besides relying on the drones’ audio signature for detection by ground troops along the border, anti-drone systems and spoofers have also been put in place in areas identified as sensitive.
The equipment, which includes the capability of jamming signals or disabling the GPS, is being upgraded and additional numbers are procured, BSF sources said. The resources of different agencies are also being amalgamated for optimisation.
BSF officers said that a new training centre has been set up under the Western Command to exclusively cater to the training requirements for handling drone activities. This includes training troops in detection of drones manually or through anti-drone systems and measures to neutralise hostile drones.
Recently, the BSF also set up a drone forensics laboratory in Delhi to analyse the mechanical and navigational components of recovered drones to determine their capability and flight path for formulating effective counter strategies.