- Shield and Sword: India’s Mission to Master Autonomous Warfare
- Preparing for the Next War: Drones, Swarms and Loitering Munitions
By Lt. General (Dr.)VK Saxena (Retd.)
New Delhi. 01 June 2026. One year after Operation Sindoor demonstrated India’s resolve against terrorism and its supporting ecosystem, a new challenge has emerged at the forefront of military strategy—the rise of autonomous warfare. The extensive use of drones, swarms and loitering munitions during the conflict highlighted the changing character of warfare, where unmanned systems increasingly shape battlefield outcomes. As India prepares for future iterations of conflict, the key question is no longer whether autonomous weapons will dominate the battlefield, but how effectively the nation can defend against them while simultaneously harnessing their offensive potential.
The experience of Op Sindoor reiterated both the scale of the threat and the urgency of preparing for an era in which large-scale drone attacks, AI-enabled swarms and loitering munitions could overwhelm conventional air defence systems. With adversaries rapidly expanding their autonomous weapons arsenals, India faces the dual challenge of strengthening its defensive shield while sharpening its offensive capabilities.
“India remains as steadfast as ever in its resolve to defeat terrorism and destroy its enabling ecosystem” said the PM on the first Anniversary of Op Sindoor. Autonomous weapons comprising of the trio of drones, swarms and loitering munitions showed up as a dominant force in Op Sindoor. Our adversary launched hundreds of such weapons while own forces stood valiantly to counter them effectively.
There is a question which becomes very relevant here. How are the future versions of this duel likely to play out? And the answer naturally would be – how well our adversary is prepared. So the actual question is – How well is the adversary is prepared?
China is a strong autonomous weapon power. It has a huge number of drones, swarms and loitering munitions. A combat Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) worth the mention is the Wing Loong II. It stands shoulder-to-shoulder with world’s best machines in the class like US MQ9 Reaper. China has both fixed wing, as well as, rotary wing swarms. Chinese swarm drones (like Atlas drone swarm system capable of simultaneous deployment of 96 drones,) 200 drone AI swarm, CETC 119-drone fixed wing swarm etc. are major force multipliers.
Drone threat from China has a substantial stealth muscle. Kamikaze drones like Jiu Tian, ASN 301, Sunflower 200, KZ 2 and more and First Person View drones like Little falcon, Xinge, CH 817 etc. along with loitering munitions such as FH 901, Feilong 300-D, WS 43 etc. are the major strength of the Chinese autonomous weapons arsenal.
Pakistan rides on the imported drone power from China and Turkey. There are reports of Chinese Wing Loong II Drones with Pakistan (30-50). Reports also indicate the holding of 24xChinese CH 4A and 4B drones by Pakistan.
As regards Turkey Pakistan holds the Turkish TAI Anka drones. Bayractar TB2 is another very effective Turkish drone held by Pakistan. It also holds a small inventory of Bayractar Akinci drones. Large number of Turkish kamikaze drone YIHA-III are being locally produced in Pakistan. Its indigenous combat UAS is Burraq. China is actively helping Pakistan in the area of high altitude swarm drones in particular enabling co-development and coproduction.
So a conclusion is – Our adversaries are strong autonomous weapon powers. A typical conflict in the future is likely to open up with large onslaughts of drones and swarms which will aim to overwhelm and exhaust the Indian Ground Based Air Defences (GBAD). To beat our adversaries at their game we need to revamp some verticals. Prevent Choking of Air Defence Control and Reporting System (ADCRS) is the first one. ADCRS is our capability to control the air defence battle at the national level. It is based on a nation-wide chain of Air Defence Control Centres threaded together by the Air Force’s Integrated Air Command and Control System (IACCS) which interconnects with the Army’s ADCRS, i.e., Akashteer system and Navy’s ADCRS, i.e., Trigun system thus completing a nation-wide grid for air defence control.
The main purpose of the onslaught by autonomous weapons will be to choke this lifeline and overwhelm it with large volumes of drone/swarm traffic. Once ADCRS is choked, it cannot effectively manage mainframe threat comprising of strike aircrafts, attack helicopters (AHs), cruise missiles, ARMs, PGMs and more. This threat is likely to follow in the wake of the overwhelming swarm threat.
The requirement is therefore is to handle the entire battle of autonomous weapons in the Tactical battle Space (TBS) through a ‘separate grid’. This grid will integrate all the multiple sensors in the TBS capable of detecting the autonomous weapon threat, as well as, the multiple kill means deployed to counter the threat. It will perform functions of detection, identification, and neutralisation of autonomous threat without choking the mainframe ADCRS chain.
Such a grid called SAKSHAM (Situational Awareness for Kinetic Soft and Hard Kill Asset Management) is in the process being fielded. The same must be operationalized in a mission mode. Besides ensuring the adversary does not choke our capability to control air defence battle, we also need to iron-clad our shield to counter the threat. This will go along two verticals, first being enhancing capabilities to detect the threat and second diversifying the kill means.
The current drone detection radars include the Low Level Light Weight Radar the 3D FMCW Drone Detection Radar both made by Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL). Drone detection capabilities are also resident in the Air Defence Fire Control Radar – Atulya made by BEL and the Mountain Fire Control Radar unveiled by BEL in 2026. These capabilities are far too less, and worse, these are mainly resident in the public sector There is a need to diversify the base. Key Industry players Zen Technologies Limited, Grene Robotics, Solar Defence and Aerospace Limited etc. must pitch in to provide more variants and more quantum of drone detection capability. As regards kill means while we have realized both the soft-kill as well as hard kill means, their total throughput is far less than the number envisaged to counter the assessed quantum of threat.
We also require swarm drone killers. The existing systems like the Air Launched Flexible Asset.–Swarm (ALFA-S) programme of HAL and NewSpace Research and Technologies, the Autonomous Surveillance and Armed Drone Swarm (A –SADS) or the Bhragavastra Micro Missile System by Solar Defence and Aerospace Limited must be ramped up in range and depth. Zen Technologies has recently announced a new kamikaze interceptor killer drone with a production capacity of 15000 per month. Such efforts are welcome. More and more players must join. While the ‘shield’ against autonomous weapons must be ‘iron-clad’ the ‘sword’ of autonomous weapons must be razor-sharp as well. Govt has launched mission Swarm Shakti with an aim to make India a global drone hub by the year 2030. With a funding support of some 16000-18000 Crs, this mission must move forward at mission –mode. In that the Shatibaan Regiments focussed on offensive exploitation of autonomous weapons must be raised with speed to reach their current planned No ( 15-20).
Same urgency must prevail in operationalizing the Divyastara batteries with Artrillery for surveillance and strike capabilities and Ashni platoons with Infantry providing tactical surveillance and strike capabilities with Kamikaze drones. Industry must catch up on meeting the requirement of autonomous weapons as set out in the Technology Roadmap of the Army for UAS and Loitering Munitions released on 06 Apr 2026. As a part of Army’s Decade of Transformation 2023-2032, we must gear up our ‘sword and shield’ in terms of autonomous weapons as a part of Mission Sudershan Chakra (MSC) launched by the Hon PM on Independence day 2025. The poser – ‘what it means to be resilient stands answered.
Operation Sindoor demonstrated that autonomous weapons are no longer supporting assets but central instruments of modern warfare. As adversaries continue to invest heavily in drones, swarms and loitering munitions, India must move beyond reactive measures and build a comprehensive autonomous warfare ecosystem capable of both defending against and employing such technologies at scale. The report concludes that national resilience in future conflicts will depend on rapidly operationalising dedicated counter-drone networks, expanding indigenous industrial capacity and accelerating the deployment of offensive autonomous systems. In an era where battlefield dominance may increasingly be determined by unmanned systems, India’s ability to strengthen both its “shield” and its “sword” will define its preparedness for Op Sindoor 2.0, 3.0 and beyond.
