Amid the increased use of drones in modern warfare, as evinced by the recent India-Pakistan military conflict and the frequent deployment of drones for Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR) operations, India's Border Security Force (BSF), which is mainly tasked to protect the India-Pakistan international border (IB), is raising its 'drone squadron', to be deployed along the border with Pakistan.
According to news agency PTI, the drone squadron of BSF, to be based in specific border outposts at the western front, will comprise an assortment of reconnaissance, surveillance and attack drones and trained personnel who can operate these.
The drone squadron will be navigated by a control room based in the western command headquarters of the force in Chandigarh.
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Citing sources, the news agency said the BSF drone squadron will be located in a specific number of BOPs located along the India-Pakistan border running from Jammu in the north to Punjab, Rajasthan and Gujarat on the western side of India.
The squadron will have a wide range of small and large surveillance, reconnaissance and attack drones that will be launched during operations or any 'hot war' like situations similar to the recent military conflict.
A small team of about 2-3 personnel each will be deployed in "vulnerable and specified" BOPs. Some drones and gadgetry are being procured for the maiden squadron and the personnel chosen for the task are being trained in batches.
A BSF officer deployed along the border said to PTI that BSF is in touch with defence research and intelligence agencies to deploy counter-drone machines at select border posts so that "rogue or armed drones" flying in from across the frontier can be neutralised.
