How drones are the new face of warfare

India's adoption of UAVs in combat, countermeasures, and the evolving drone warfare landscape analyzed by strategic affairs analyst Pushan Das.

India’s Operation Sindoor in the wake of the Pahalgam terror attack has marked a notable shift in the country’s adoption of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) in combat. In combination with standoff weapons, India’s use of UAVs in active combat represents a tactical shift in military doctrine — part of a global playbook. Ukraine’s Operation Spider Web also marks a turning point in how low-cost, improvised unmanned systems can be employed with strategic impact.

The ubiquitous drone is rapidly becoming the weapon of choice serving as a force multiplier to achieve strategic objectives while blurring the distinctions between military-grade and commercial technologies. Building resilience in drone warfare requires India to build modularity and redundancy in mass produced drones, and nurture a responsive defence production base.

The Nagorno-Karabakh War in 2020 provided one of the first demonstrations of how drones can change the nature of aerial warfare with new capabilities. Azerbaijan’s success hinged on the use of loitering munitions or Kamikaze drones, like the Israeli-made Harop drones, in destroying air defences.

Additionally, the war in Ukraine has emerged as a real-world laboratory for drone technology, with rapid innovation and counter innovation cycles defining modern warfare. However, Ukraine’s most obvious innovation was the country’s ability to produce and deploy a wide variety of drones. In Myanmar also, rebel groups are deploying 3D-printed drones against a better-equipped military, levelling the playing field.

As India continues to reform and modernise its military, learning and applying the right lessons from recent conflicts, including Operation Sindoor, is key. Among New Delhi’s adversaries, China already has a large and diverse fleet of unmanned systems, which could provide it with an edge in a potential war along the Line of Actual Control (LAC). Pakistan too has bolstered its unmanned weapons capabilities through collaborations with China and Türkiye.

Drones are vulnerable to many countermeasures such as electronic warfare, guns and air defences. The impact of drones, therefore, depends on its ability to evade or overwhelm defences against them.

Countermeasures against drones in the form of air defences come with limitations and vulnerabilities and can be defeated through a range of technologies and tactics, making innovation and counter-innovation a critical part of drone warfare. India’s counter-drone systems include multilayered sensors and weapon systems, as well as indigenously developed soft- and hard-kill counter-UAV systems. Both played a crucial role in thwarting Pakistan’s drone and missile attacks in the recent flareup of hostilities.