Indian Army Trains Kite to Hunt Enemy Drones as UAVs From Pakistan Border Double in 2022 | WATCH

Indian Army may have found a solution to tackle the problem of drones carrying drugs and arms coming from Pakistan in Jammu and Kashmir and Punjab. In a first, a kite has been trained to identify and destroy enemy unmanned aerial vehicle (UAVs).

The kite named “Arjun” trained to prey on enemy drones was shown in action during an ongoing joint training exercise ‘Yuddh Abhyas’ of India and the US in Uttarakhand’s Auli, news agency ANI reported.

“Indian Army troops are using trained Kites to prey on enemy drones in a first-of-its-kind usage of these birds. Indian Army is using trained Kites along with dogs for military operations,” Army officials were quoted as saying.

The 18th edition of India-US joint military exercise Yudh Abhyas aims to enhance interoperability and share expertise between both the armies in peacekeeping and disaster relief operations, officials had said. The exercise is conducted annually between India and the US with the aim of exchanging best practices, tactics, techniques and procedures between the armies of the two nations. The previous edition of the exercise was conducted at Joint Base Elmendorf Richardson, Alaska, the US in October 2021, officials said as reported by PTI.

Drones from Across Pakistan Border More Than Doubled in 2022

Earlier this month, BSF Director General Pankaj Kumar Singh had said that instances of drones bringing drugs, arms and ammunition along the Punjab and Jammu borders from across Pakistan has more than doubled in 2022 and the BSF is looking for a foolproof solution to check this menace.

He also informed that the BSF has set-up a state-of-the-art laboratory in Delhi to study drone forensics and the results have been very encouraging.

“The BSF has been at the receiving end of the drone menace for quite some time… the versatility of the drone, which is very well known, has been posing problems to us with nefarious elements having found new uses of the drone due to its anonymity and quick flight at sufficient height bypassing the frontiers,” he said.

Quantifying the enormity of the drone menace, the DG said while the BSF detected about 79 drone flights along the India-Pakistan international border in 2020, it increased to 109 last year and “more than doubled at 266 this year”.

“The major culprit regions are Punjab which saw 215 flights this year… in Jammu, about 22 flights have been seen. The problem is grave. We do not have a foolproof solution as of now. They (drones) have been bringing across narcotics, arms and ammunition, counterfeit currency and all kinds of things,” he said.

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