India has a few companies doing indigenous research (Representational)
India needs to invest more in counter-drone research and technology and procure them in a planned manner to address the security concerns arising from rogue operations of unmanned aerial vehicles, said a senior official of the Drone Federation of India (DFI) on Monday.
His comments come in the wake of the attack in which drones dropped two bombs at the IAF station at Jammu airport, injuring two air force personnel.
Alert Army troops on Monday fired at two drones found hovering over the Ratnuchak-Kaluchak military areas in Jammu.
Smit Shah, Director - Partnerships, Drone Federation of India (DFI), said no number of strict regulations can address the security concerns from rogue drones.
"A person, if he or she wants to assemble a drone and fly it in any part of the country, has the physical capability to do so. To address this challenge (of rogue drones), we need to invest more counter-drone research and technology and build capacity in the same domain," he told PTI.
India has a few companies doing indigenous research and a few companies partnering with foreign vendors but more focus needs to be brought in this domain, he mentioned.
Counter-drone technology uses radars, radio-frequency devices, electro-optical methods, acoustic mechanisms or combined sensors technology to the unmanned aerial vehicles.
Mr Shah said the existing laws of the country should primarily ensure that materials that can be used for causing harm and destruction should be tracked adequately and should not fall in the hands of people for whom it is not intended.
The DFI is an industry body that has companies like Asteria Aerospace, Quidich Innovation Labs, AutoMicroUAS, Aarav Unmanned Systems and Indrones as its members.
Mr Shah said the government should take at least three steps to boost indigenous research and technology in the counter-drone domain -- first is a planned procurement approach that explains how much and how soon those counter-drones are needed.
"Second is the need to develop partnerships between counter-drone companies and public sector units (PSUs), government organisations like Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and other private organisations. The third step is to support these initiatives with focused funding programs," he said.
In October 2019, the Civil Aviation ministry had issued a policy document primarily to deal with possible security challenges from rogue drones to key installations like nuclear power plants and military bases.