JODHPUR: Highlighting that the menace of drone intrusions from across the border is set to grow, home minister Amit Shah on Sunday said a “laser-equipped, anti-drone, gun-mount system”, jointly developed by the border guarding forces, ministry of defence, DRDO and other govt R&D departments, at the testing stage, enabled the neutralisation of 55% drones along the Punjab border, as against 3% earlier.
Sharing the “very encouraging” outcome of the trials of the indigenously-developed anti-drone mechanism, Shah, during his address at the BSF’s 60th Raising Day event here, underlined that various govt departments had worked in tandem as part of the “whole of govt” approach to assess the threat from drones, and accordingly, developed the solution.
“I am sure that in the next few years, we will establish a comprehensive anti-drone unit that will effectively secure our borders,” he said.
As many as 257 drones, including 250 on the western border, were recovered or shot down by the BSF till Nov 30 this year as against 110 in 2023. BSF DG Daljit Singh Chawdhary, while highlighting the sustained use of drones by elements across the western border to smuggle drugs and weapons into Indian territory, said on Sunday that the force’s drone forensic laboratory had examined 190 UAVs shot down or recovered by BSF personnel over the past year, and had shared the results with the agencies concerned.
Shah said government had earlier, as part of its constant efforts to improve border management, developed a comprehensive integrated border management system (CIBMS), which integrates manpower, sensors, networks, intelligence and command control solutions to detect, soft-kill and hard-kill drones. A CIBMS pilot project was undertaken in Dhubri, Assam. “The initial results are encouraging. But the system needs some improvements. We will make the necessary upgrades and extend CIBMS to the entire western and eastern borders,” Shah said.
Praising BSF personnel for strengthening the country’s first line of defence, Shah said achieving PM Modi’s vision of a fully developed India by 2047 was impossible “without the bravery and dedication of our soldiers”.