At a time when Pakistan is using Chinese drones to smuggle weapons and drugs into India, a top Army official has said that the force was in the process of acquiring and deploying low-level lightweight radars capable of detecting even small drones like the DJI Mavic. DJI is a Chinese firm whose drones are widely used worldwide by both civilian and military organisations.
“The first thing is to look at the capability to detect the smallest drones akin to DJI Mavic. We need a surveillance system for which we are in the process of acquiring radars like the Low-Level Lightweight Radar (LLLR),” said Lt Gen Sumer Ivan D’Cunha, Director General of the Indian Army’s Army Air Defence, during an interaction.
“We had bought LR radars as part of Emergency procurement, which is capable of picking up Mavic drones without grenades and can definitely pick up with a grenade,” he added. The Army Air Defence officer said that drones smaller than this size may be used for surveillance but cannot carry weapons. “So, we are looking at increasing the density of these radars. Greater density is required for mountains and valleys,” D’Cunha said. He said that the Indian Army is also looking to acquire drone-based rockets to counter enemy drone attacks. “We are also looking at a Drone kill system with drone on drone or rocket on drone.
We are also looking at a truck-mounted counter-drone system with 64 rockets,” he said. Explaining the modernisation of the air defence systems, he said the tender for 220 air defence guns is already out and trials are planned in July this year. The guns would be used to replace the vintage L-70 and ZU -23mm gun systems. On the shoulder-fired and tripod-based Very Short Range Air Defence Systems, he said the DRDO has done some test firings, but there will still be some time till they give out a final version. “Quantum of VSHORADs is not what it should be.
Quantum is huge but we may look for some number urgently. RFI for Indian industry will be out soon as part of buying Indian and could have adequate numbers to look after Indian industry,” he said. He said the Army is also looking for Guns with fragmentation ammunition and missile with 8-10 km range. On the Quick Reaction Surface-to-Air Missile (QRSAM) system, he said this was an extremely good project by the DRDO with a likely range of 30 km. “We are looking forward to getting that in large numbers, both wheeled and tracked. The contract is likely in 4-5 months,” he said.
