Our energies need to be devoted to beefing up our single-service inventories and effecting cadre reviews to achieve desirable teeth. Bringing in another level of operational command in the guise of a theatre commander is inapt for our strategic security posture and an exercise in futility. The attendant handicaps would be inadequate domain expertise of a different service theatre commander and undesirable parcelling out of air power assets.

Unsuitable: Creating theatre commands is putting the cart before the horse. PTI

Group Capt Murli Menon (Retd)

The Kargil Review Committee recommended a ‘first among equals’ Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) — albeit a four-star one approved by the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) in December 2019 and not a five-star one, as was desirable in a nuclearised scenario and was expected to enhance the procurement and operational integration of the three services.

But a series of missteps such as pension reforms and theaterisation bode ill for national security. The attempt by the DMA to create ‘theatre commands’ unabashedly promotes turf battles between the three services rather than leading to defence capability integration. The need for India to replace its existing seven each of Army/ IAF and three Naval single-service sectoral commands with five or so integrated theatre commands — west, north and east for Pakistan/China threats, air defence and maritime theatres — is being proposed without thinking it through.

China and Pakistan-centric operations would demand the involvement of multiple proposed theatre commands such as the Western, Northern and Eastern Land Theatres as also the Maritime and Air Defence Theatres. The need is to clearly recognise the traditional war-waging mindset and domain orientation of the Army, Navy and Indian Air Force.

The Army generally has a battle horizon of “a day’s march”, within which it sees its battle space. General Sundarji attempted to widen this to around 100 km, with his laudable mechanised ambitions.

The Navy, on the other hand, operates in a few knots per hour domain, with even gunboat diplomacy and carrier battle groups taking several days to be manifestly effective.

The Air Force is the truly strategic service, capability and mindset wise. A fighter bomber on a tactical mission is capable of achieving strategic goals, as exemplified by the timely IAF Hunter and MIG-21 aircraft strike on the East Pakistan Government House on December 14, 1971, instrumental in the capitulation of the entire Pakistani Eastern Army.

All three services have their priorities for war-fighting, derived from national security objectives and associated service doctrines. The IAF was the first to articulate an Air Power Doctrine in the early 1990s. The Navy followed up with its own doctrine and finally the Army, too.

An attempt to articulate a joint doctrine is now gaining traction, more so after the formation of the Integrated Andaman & Nicobar Command. Be that as it may, joint war-fighting procedures and norms have evolved over the years, functioning rather well indeed at the service command, i.e. operational levels.

The same has been amply demonstrated in the wars so far waged by the Indian defence forces, including in Kargil and the latest Ladakh standoff. There is no need now to try and fix a system that is not broken.

Every nation needs to adopt military organisations which suit its national ethos and threat dynamics. We do not have a five-star joint chief of staff and talking of creating theatre commands at this juncture is putting the cart before the horse.

Our energies now need to be devoted towards beefing up our single-service inventories and effecting suitable cadre reviews to achieve desirable teeth: to tail ratios. Whereas, bringing in another level of operational command in the guise of a theatre commander is inapt for our strategic security posture and bound to be an exercise in futility. The serious attendant handicaps would be inadequate domain expertise of a different service theatre commander and undesirable parcelling out of expensive air power assets.

Valuable soft skills and other command and control tools such as AWACS, AEW, flight refuelling aircraft, strategic transport/ airlift capability, electronic combat assets and other force multipliers are meant to be dynamically switched from one combat zone to another, depending on the situation. They are definitely not to be brought ‘under the command’ of one expert military leader. A novice air commander orchestrating air power in war is fraught with danger. Aping the organisational structures in the US, Israel or China (or even the puny Maldives, as protagonists have sought to) would be detrimental to operational efficiency, especially of a nation’s air force.

The prevalent career profiles in the three services do not cater to ‘maroon’ tenures in the upward hierarchical transition of a service officer. India is not yet ready to experiment with ideas such as theaterisation.

The other important deterrent against theaterisation is the dwindling force structure of the IAF, already down to 30 squadrons (and slated to reduce further), thanks to slow accretions. The dangers of parcelling out of air assets, as theaterisation envisages, need not be emphasised.

Further, the concept of a land or maritime-centric theatre is anathema to true integrated war-fighting, which is what we should strive for: a unified thinking amongst the practitioners, rather than cosmetic organisational tinkering.

If the intent is only to have a single operational commander overall, we should be aiming for a single theatre, which is what the Indian armed forces have been oriented to all these years.

Thus, the theatrisation proposal is ridden with operational lacunae which are now being sought to be thrust on an uncooperative IAF, whereas any sensible reorganisation should encompass technical weapon upgrade and efforts to better the teeth-tail ratios of our combat arms.

In December 2019, heavy-lifting drones were used by Pakistan to drop AK-47 rifles, counterfeit currency and narcotics in Punjab’s border districts. But the Jammu drone attack is something new. Contemporary drones cost little, and availability is aplenty. Drones represent an asymmetric threat that can cause serious damage and create panic.

Wise Course: It is better to bring down a drone intact for forensic analysis and intelligence-gathering than destroy it. Reuters

Maj Gen Harvijay Singh (retd)

In the age of the Almighty Computer, drones are the perfect warriors. They kill without remorse, obey without kidding around, and they never reveal the names of their masters.

Eduardo Galeano, Uruguayan writer

IN August 2017, aircraft carrier Queen Elizabeth of the UK Royal Navy was docked at Invergordon when an amateur photographer flew a drone close to the giant battleship. When the drone sensed a high wind risk, it landed itself on the ship. The pilot (with the remote) told BBC that he could easily have carried two kilograms of high explosives and left it on the deck.

An assassination attempt was made on Venezuela President Nicolas Maduro on August 4, 2018, with a drone. Two drones loaded with one kilogram of explosives each were flown close to the president while he was addressing a military parade. They were detected by the alert security personnel. One drone was electronically diverted from its course and the second crashed against a wall.

December 20, 2018, saw drones dramatically disrupt air travel after someone brought London’s Gatwick airport to a complete halt by flying drones intermittently over the airport’s lone runway. Air traffic at other London airports, including Heathrow, was also disrupted momentarily over fears of a coordinated drone assault against all five of London’s commercial airports.

In December 2019, heavy-lifting drones were used by Pakistan to drop AK-47 rifles, counterfeit currency and narcotics in 10 sorties spanned over eight days in Punjab’s border districts More such incidents have been reported. Sunday’s drone attack on the Jammu Air Force base is new and extremely belligerent. This aggressiveness needs to be nipped in the bud to prevent further escalation. Clearly, the threat from the drones is a cause for serious concern. Contemporary drones cost little, and availability is aplenty. Drones today represent an asymmetric threat that can cause serious damage and create panic.

Drones being small, silent and discreet are difficult to detect and bring down. They can be pre-programmed and/or remote controlled even with smart phones. Rapid miniaturisation of electronics and batteries are a boon to the growth of drones. Additional features like auto landing, dynamic homing and orientation control provide greater stability and effective control. High-end cameras with axis stabilisation provide a smooth and stable recording experience with high-quality videos. They are symmetric in shape and can fly in any direction. They can be armed with weapons, explosives and/or cameras. They can also carry hacking-capable devices, such as small on-board computers (e.g., a Raspberry Pi), Wi-Fi/Bluetooth dongles (to monitor and detect vulnerabilities in networks) and trigger an attack on the computer/network.

Big investments in countermeasures are inescapable. Any control measure would necessarily be working under extreme capability of precision and real-time response. To observe, detect and analyse a rogue drone would require tracking its flight path precisely. An effective sensor system will monitor electronic radio data and the designated airspace with video cameras (quite like the CCTVs watching over a crowded marketplace). These devices would trigger alarms automatically on spotting and initiate the analysis process, identify control commands being transmitted to the drones by radio and register the drone type and characteristics to classify the threat.

Once a hostile drone is identified, measures to bring it down commence. These may be the use of guns and explosives to destroy it or electronically jam it and force it to land. It is very desirable that the actions of detection, identification and destruction/disablement take place automatically. This would require all the participating defensive elements to be electronically integrated. The electronics used must not pose a threat to other friendly flying objects in the vicinity and cause collateral damage to infrastructure. The countermeasures will also have to be layered and gridded to provide an effective defence shield; any single point of failure is simply unacceptable.

It is preferable that instead of destruction, the drone is brought down intact to allow forensic analysis and intelligence-gathering to eliminate threats and prevent future attacks. Some well-established physical countermeasure are: well-trained snipers to shoot them down with pellet guns, man-portable launchers to launch nets to physically capture drones and bring them down with a parachute. Electronic countermeasures take over remote control signals and the Global Positioning System (GPS) signals to disorient and capture the drone. Lasers are becoming a feasible option. However, directed energy weapons are still experimental from an operational standpoint.

The detection and identification systems include contemporary technology devices like modular and fully configurable 3D radar sensor, MIMO (multiple-input multiple-output) radars to improve detection accuracy, radio frequency sensors and acoustic sensors. The electronic countermeasures include a fully integrated and automated directional or omnidirectional jammer for neutralisation of drones and a dedicated web application for controlling the system.

As the concern surrounding drone safety continues to grow, fresh and innovative technologies will continue to evolve, and the trick lies in keeping pace. The time to prevent any future belligerence is now.

Military sources say such attempts have been intercepted in recent times in the Jammu sector. It points to high confidence, and an intent to raise alarm, possibly to push the Air Force into retaliation in terms of deliberate flights close to the India-Pakistan border. That could raise bilateral temperatures very quickly.

Scare In The Air: There has been a spate of drone activity along the border, but we need to separate military drones from improvised vehicles. PTI

Tara Kartha

Former Director, National Security Council Secretariat

IN what can be classified as an escalation in violence, drones were used to cause at least two explosions in the technical area of Jammu airport, which is being used by the Air Force. Though it caused only minor injuries to two personnel, the incident could have been much worse. The drone could have hit a parked aircraft, resulting in a terror attack of no small proportion. This is a quantum jump in terrorist capability in India. No doubt about that at all. That said, it is not the drone itself that is the sole issue, but the intent and intelligence in how it is used.

Commercial drones relatively available in India, like the DJI Phantom 4, with an added payload of explosives of up to a kilogram or more, would have an operational range of about a kilometre. Since the explosion was at night, the onboard camera was probably not of much use for targeting, explaining why it missed any worthwhile target.

Even if coordinates were fed in, it is important to understand that commercial drones are simply not geared up for this kind of precision task. Showering flowers on a visiting VIP, yes; targeting a specific aircraft, no. If it was a commercial drone, then the operator was close to the airport, probably on the roof of a building, guiding the drone. Reports, however, seem to indicate that the drone flew across the border and back, a total of some 40 km, indicating a far more technology-intensive and probably larger machine, that raises a different set of possibilities.

The Jammu airport is just about 14 km from the Pakistan border, which makes it vulnerable to such attacks. Islamabad has a vigorous (UAV unmanned aerial vehicle) programme that includes long-range ones of upwards of 1,000 km and tactical drones with a range of some 80 km. The ‘Bravo +’, for instance, has a wingspan of about 14 feet and a payload of some 145 kg. But it defies logic as to why Pakistan’s military would launch such a strike which could squarely implicate it, if shot down. By now, Islamabad knows full well that this is not a government that would hesitate to retaliate. Being Pakistan, there is always the possibility that a part of the armed forces don’t want even the beginnings of a rapprochement with India, that is reportedly on the cards, given sustained backdoor negotiations and apparent overtures by the Chief of Army Staff General Bajwa. But again, a Pak military drone would hardly miss a stationary target.

The more likely possibility is apparent in reports of a spate of drone activity along the border. In October last year, a Chinese surveillance quadcopter was shot down by Indian troops in Kupwara, probably used by smugglers. In June, a rather strange-looking quadcopter was shot down, carrying an assault rifle and grenades. That’s quite a payload. Military sources say diverse such attempts have been intercepted in recent times in the Jammu sector. Available data seems to indicate that all these intrusions were by relatively small machines, that fall under a commercial type of drone, but improvised for its role. A day after the Jammu blasts, alert troops fired at drones over the Kaluchak military station, however, to little effect. The machines seem to have disappeared thereafter. There are no inputs of what these were, and what they were supposed to do. But it points to high confidence, and an intent to raise alarm, possibly to push the Air Force into retaliation in terms of deliberate flights close to the India- Pakistan border. That could raise bilateral temperatures very quickly.

For terrorists, a small drone is a perfect weapon. Barbed wire, armed guards or even a radar can’t spot a weapon that has such a small cross-section, particularly in low altitudes where it can disappear in background ‘noise’. Drones have long been used by terrorists, delivering more psychological effect than actual damage. Hezbollah used drones supplied by Iran to target Syrian rebel strongholds in 2013. The Islamic State has a DIY capability that it has used to gain a strategic advantage, though not much of a battlefield weapon. What it did get was good intelligence and surveillance capability. Then there have been assassination attempts using commercial drones, such as the one against President Maduro of Venezuela in which seven soldiers were injured. The most spectacular use of drones was by Houthis against Saudi Arabia’s oil facilities, which resulted in upending world supplies as its production halted. But those were UAV-X military drones with long range and used ‘kamikaze style’ with warheads of some 18 kg of explosives, according to a UN report. With about 10 of these used, that was not terrorism, it was war. Few remember that Houthis also used Qasef-1 drones to little effect, even though these carry a large warhead. Small drones deliver more in terms of a spectacle, but cause little actual damage. True, in Jammu, one hit against a parked aircraft would have been damage enough. But the key here is not the vehicle. It’s the explosives expert. Find the explosive, and you’ll find the culprit.

It is important, therefore, to separate the clearly military drones from the improvised vehicles used so far, in generating a response. One requires better border policing, the other a huge change in military doctrines. What is clear is that we need to up the alert, but guard against the usual knee-jerk reactions to swoop down on the commercial use of drones that have wide applications at a time of economic stress. There are already attempts to stifle the use of drones through the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) that will effectively prevent legitimate commercial activity. The DGCA’s present ‘Blue Sky’ parameters for instance, may be replaced with stringent KYC procedure, similar to banking systems for an effective oversight. Terror groups like the Lashkar-e-Toiba aim to create panic in an already paranoid bureaucracy, and thereby earn more publicity that increases their stature. It’s a fine line to walk. React with firmness against the real culprit who provides them with shelter and sustenance, but also show that the State is more than capable of protecting its own.

High-tech interception, strict regulation a must

PTI file photo

The drone attack on Jammu’s IAF station on Sunday caught India’s security establishment off guard. This shouldn’t have been the case, considering that unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) have emerged as a potent threat in recent years in the country and across the world. The use of drones by cross-border operators to drop arms and drugs in Punjab and Jammu & Kashmir is not uncommon. Terrorists have now taken things to the next level by dropping bombs through UAVs on one of India’s strategic installations. The timing of the attack — days after the PM’s meeting with J&K leaders — is also significant. Though there was no loss of life, the perpetrators’ message was loud and clear: it won’t be a one-off strike and the subsequent ones could be far worse in terms of the damage inflicted. Barely a day after the Jammu incident, Army troops spotted two drones hovering over the Ratnuchak-Kaluchak military area; they opened fire to force both of them to fly away.

The menace of drones had prompted the Directorate General of Civil Aviation to come up with a set of requirements for these UAVs in 2018. Earlier this year, the Union Ministry of Civil Aviation notified the Unmanned Aircraft System Rules, imposing strict compliance norms — right from the R&D stage. This regulatory mechanism, which demands rigorous implementation, must be backed by state-of-the-art anti-drone systems that can intercept and neutralise suspicious remote-controlled aerial platforms. Reliance on the alertness of soldiers to spot drones has its limitations. Technology has a big role to play to keep disruptive elements at bay. India can learn a lot from how other nations are dealing with the airborne intruders.

Drones have become a key component of modern warfare. Iran-backed militia are using UAVs to target US personnel and facilities in Iraq. Several cities of Saudi Arabia are facing drone attacks carried out by Yemen’s Houthi militia. Late last year, drones had helped Azerbaijan defeat Armenia in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. India needs to shed its traditionally reactive approach and opt for pre-emptive action. The challenge is to be well-equipped to prevent terrorists from spreading their wings.

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, June 28

Ex-servicemen are complaining against the fresh restrictions imposed on their visit to canteen stores department (CSD outlets) and limit on the items that can be purchased by them.

In a letter written to the Army Headquarters, the Ex-Servicemen ASSOCIATIONS of Mohlai and Chandigarh, stated that its inquiries have revealed that CSD depots have restricted collecting stock from the unit-run canteens to once a month instead of the earlier two to three times a month. Lifting the entire stock in one go instead of in phases increases the working capital, besides requiring additional transport capability and storage space.

Further, some canteens were only issued a third of their regular demand this month, which resulted in some items remaining out of stock, the Cell stated.

Shimla, June 29

An MoU worth Rs 5,000 crore was signed between the state government and SMPP Private India Ltd here today for setting up an ammunition manufacturing facility for tanks and artillery guns.

The MoU was signed by Rakesh Prajapati, Director, Industries, on behalf of the state government and SMPPP Private Ltd Managing Director SC Kansal. The industrial project would provide direct and indirect employment to about 8,500 persons. — TNS

Fire brought under control after six hours

Flames rise after a fire breaks out at a house at Hijwa village in Ramban district on Tuesday, June 29, 2021. PTI

Banihal/Jammu, June 29

An Indian Air Force (IAF) chopper made several sorties to help douse a major fire that raged for nearly six hours and gutted over a dozen residential houses in a remote village in Jammu and Kashmir’s Ramban district on Tuesday, officials said.

No one was injured in the fire which started around 11 am in the densely populated Hijwa village of Khari, 28 km from Banihal sub-division, rendering over 36 families homeless, the officials said.

They said the fire spread fast as the houses are closely located and mostly built of wood with a tin roof.  

The Army and police reached the spot immediately to assist local volunteers to douse the flames, officials said, adding that fire tenders from Banihal town were also pressed into service.

The fire was finally brought under control after a nearly six-hour-long joint operation with an IAF helicopter joining the mission.

The IAF made several sorties and poured buckets full of water on the raging fire which was a threat to the whole village, the officials said.

Station House Officer Nayeem-ul-Haq said the cause of fire was not known immediately.

District Development Commissioner Mussarat-ul-Islam along with District Development council chairperson Shamshada Bano visited the fire ravaged village and assured the victims of all possible help to rebuild their lives.

Islam announced immediate relief to the affected families including tents, ration and blankets and said the cases for compensation to the families would be processed speedily. PTI

Day-long visit to Sumdoh sector along the LAC came amid the continued military standoff between Indian and Chinese militaries in several friction points in eastern Ladakh

Gen Bipin Rawat. PTI file

New Delhi, June 29

Chief of Defence Staff Gen Bipin Rawat on Tuesday visited a number of forward locations along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) with China around the Himachal Pradesh sector to take stock of India’s military preparedness in the sensitive region.

In his interactions with troops, Gen Rawat exhorted them to remain steadfast in their task of defending the territorial integrity of the country.

His day-long visit to the Sumdoh sector along the LAC came amid the continued military standoff between Indian and Chinese militaries in several friction points in eastern Ladakh.

“General Bipin Rawat, #CDS interacted with the troops, complimented them for their high morale & exhorted them to remain steadfast in their task of defending the territorial integrity of the nation with the same zeal and fervour,” the Army said.

It said the Chief of Defence Staff was briefed about the ground situation by local commanders.

“General Bipin Rawat, #CDS visited forward areas of Central Sector along LAC and was briefed by the local commanders on the operational situation,” the Army said.

India and China were locked in a military standoff at multiple friction points in eastern Ladakh since early May last year. However, the two sides completed the withdrawal of troops and weapons from the North and South banks of Pangong lake in February following a series of military and diplomatic talks.

The two sides are now engaged in talks to extend the disengagement process to the remaining friction points. India has been particularly pressing for disengagement of troops in Hot Springs, Gogra and Depsang.

According to military officials, each side currently has around 50,000 to 60,000 troops along the Line of Actual Control in the sensitive sector.

There was no visible forward movement in disengagement of troops in the remaining friction points as the Chinese side did not show flexibility in their approach at the 11th round of military talks. PTI

Two days after a suspected drone attack on the Jammu air base, India flagged the issue at a UN conference that discussed terrorism and the current and emerging threats. – File photo

New Delhi, June 29

Two days after a suspected drone attack on the Jammu air base, India flagged the issue at a UN conference that discussed terrorism and the current and emerging threats.

“Another add-on to existing worries is the use of drones. Being a low-cost option and easily available, utilisation of these platforms for sinister purposes by terrorist groups has become an imminent danger and challenge for security agencies worldwide,” said VSK Kaumudi, Special Secretary (Internal Security), Ministry of Home Affairs.

Kaumudi said the possibility of the use of weaponised drones for terrorist purposes against strategic and commercial assets called for serious attention by the member states. “We have witnessed terrorists using them to smuggle weapons across the border,” he said.

The Special Secretary emphasised that the trans-border nature of this threat called for collective and unified action by the international community to hold accountable the countries sheltering terrorists.

Other new avenues for spread of terrorism were misuse of new payment methods and crowd-funding platforms, the official observed. The increased use of closed group communications on Internet and social media platforms added to the concern, he said.

“Continuing advancements in evolving technologies—artificial intelligence, robotics, Deepfakes, Blockchain, Dark-web—can also be abused by terrorists. Already, crypto currencies and virtual assets are helping terror financing, helped by the anonymity and un-traceability nature of these technologies,” he said.

Kaumudi pointed out that Covid and the subsequent isolation had made people vulnerable to radicalisation and recruitment by terrorist groups who spread terrorist propaganda by enticing them into “video games”. —TNS

NIA to probe attack, 2 more ieds recovered

• The MHA on Tuesday handed over the probe into the Jammu drone attack to the NIA.
• Sources said two unexploded IEDs were also retrieved from the blast site, which could hold clues for further investigation.

India: Pak must Take verifiable action

India has told the UN General Assembly that it was high time the international community called on Pakistan to take “effective and irreversible” actions against terror outfits operating from its soil

Another strike thwarted, troops fire at 2 drones in Jammu’s Ratnuchak-Kaluchak area

Security men rescue civilians during an encounter in Srinagar on Monday. Two CRPF men were hurt in the gunfight. PTI

Mukesh Ranjan

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, June 28

Intelligence and investigative agencies today said the preliminary probe into the drone attack at the Indian Air Force (IAF) station in Jammu yesterday indicated the role of Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) and the use of highly sophisticated explosive RDX, which also pointed towards likely involvement of Pakistan’s state actors in the blast.

Edit: Drone scare

Sources said two bombs, weighing over 2 kg each, were dropped from a height of about 100-150 m and activated by “impact charge”. The attack appeared to be closely linked with the recovery of a 6-kg IED by the Jammu police from an LeT operative that led to detention of at least three terror suspects, they added.

The agencies did not rule out the possibility of the drones having originated from the Indian side of border, but claimed these might have been activated by terrorists who infiltrated from Pakistan, sources added.

Involvement of Pak state actors likely

• Use of highly sophisticated explosive RDX points towards likely involvement of Pakistan’s state actors
• Two bombs (over 2 kg each) were dropped from a height of about 100-150 m and activated by ‘impact charge’
• The attack appeared to be closely linked with the recovery of a 6-kg IED from an LeT operative recently
• Over 300 drones have been sighted along the country’s western frontier with Pakistan since August 5, 2019

Meanwhile, a fresh attempt to attack a military installation with the help of drones was foiled by alert Army sentries at the Ratnuchak-Kaluchak station who fired at the unmanned aerial vehicles that then flew away. “Two separate drone activities were spotted over Ratnuchak-Kaluchak military area by alert troops,” Jammu-based Army PRO Lt Col Devender Anand said in a statement.

Officials in the security agencies said over 300 drones and unidentified flying objects had been sighted along the country’s western frontiers with Pakistan since August 5, 2019, particularly in Punjab and Jammu sectors. Personnel posted in forward areas were trying to find a suitable technology to check these objects, they added.

The security agencies were also testing some indigenous counter-drone technologies in varied terrain along the border.

Top LeT militant held

Jammu: Nadeem Abrar, LeT commander involved in several killings, was arrested on Monday. “Big success for us,” tweeted Kashmir zone IGP Vijay Kumar. A pistol and a grenade were seized from him. TNS

Agni Prime test-fired

Balasore (Odisha): India on Monday successfully test-fired its new generation nuclear-capable Agni Prime missile from a defence base off Odisha coast, an official statement by the DRDO said.