Facing up to the challenge of the urgent requirements of the fast changing needs of modern warfare, the 12-lakh-strong Indian Army is also changing face with its infantry rolling out ‘Ashnis’ and ‘Bhairavs’.
If ‘Ashni’ is the awesome power of lightning, ‘Bhairav’ is the ferocious manifestation of God Shiva—and these are being personified by new formations in the Indian Army’s infantry.
Giving details of the dedicated drone platoons, Lieutenant General Ajay Kumar, director general (Infantry) said during an interaction: “About 385 infantry battalions of the Indian Army have already been equipped with a platoon each of ‘Bhairav’ as part of a mega transformative effort. Each platoon will operate 10 drones, four of which will be for surveillance and six will be loitering munitions of ‘kamikaze’ drones.”
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These drones will have long range, high reconnaissance and lethal capabilities.
‘Ashnis’ are aimed to revolutionise battlefield awareness and tactical response to adversarial actions.
Gen Kumar was interacting with journalists ahead of Shaurya Diwas on October 27 which is commemorated as Infantry Day.
Ideated to bridge the gap between conventional soldiers and the elite Special Forces commandos, ‘Bhairavs’, equipped with modern weapon systems, are the newly-raised lean and mean light commando battalions of Indian Army’s infantry.
Every ‘Bhairav’ battalion comprises 250 specially-trained soldiers for swift and agile strikes and will have components of Artillery, Signals and Army Air Defence all duly embedded.
“Five battalions have already been deployed in the area of intended operations with on-the- job training from October 1. These will be fully operationalised and battle ready by October 31,” Gen Kumar said.
“The training of another four battalions has begun. In six months, we will have another 25 battalions”.
Rapidly deployable, the prime mandate of the ‘Bhairav’ battalions are to conduct swift tactical strikes and are optimised for border and high-intensity contingencies.
The lethality of Indian infantry is also being enhanced by the induction of 7.62 mm rifles, 4th/5th gen anti-tank systems and new rocket launchers.
Gen Kumar also stated that a contract valued at Rs 2,770 crore for 4,25,000 close quarter battle carbines has also been signed to equip and enhance the lethality of the infantry.
The induction of the carbines—which will replace the Sterling carbines—is expected from September 2026 onwards. Bharat Forge will deliver 60% of the carbines with PLR Systems supply the rest 40%.
