Army to Raise 15–20 Shaktibaan Drone Regiments For Unmanned Warfare

In a major push to strengthen its drone warfare capabilities, the Indian Army is raising 15-20 Shaktibaan regiments which would be equipped with swarm drones, loitering munitions and long-range UAVs which would be capable of striking targets from 5 kms to 500 Kms.

The Shaktibaan Regiments would be part of the Indian Army’s Regiment of Artillery and initial units have already been operationalised, defence officials told ANI.

The major force restructuring, conceived by Indian Army Chief Gen Upendra Dwivedi, is part of the forces’ transformation to tackle the challenges of modern warfare.

The raising of these Shaktibaan regiments is set to bridge the force’s capability gap to strike targets from 50 to 500 kms, they said.

For targets beyond 400-500 km, the Indian Army’s Regiment of Artillery has the BrahMos supersonic cruise missiles and is now also receiving the 120 km-range Pinaka rockets.

To equip the first of the Shaktibaan regiments, the Indian Army will shortly issue a tender under a fast-track procedure to procure 850 loitering munitions, along with the required launchers, they said.

Indian industry will provide the drones through a fast-track process and is expected to deliver them to the Army within the next two years.

Indian firms, including Solar Defence and Aerospace, Adani Defence and RapheM, are likely to be the contenders for this Rs 2,000 crore project.

The Indian Army has already created a pool of over a lakh drone operatives and has now begun equipping formations with the required arsenal.

Along with the Shaktibaan regiments, the Regiment of Artillery will also raise around 35-40 Divyastra batteries as part of artillery divisions, equipped with drones of different types with lethal strike capabilities.

The Infantry is also modernising in line with new warfare requirements by raising Ashmi platoons in each Infantry battalion.

It has also seen the creation of a new Special Force, Bharav, to provide the Army’s Special Operations capability at the Corps Headquarters level, with every operative capable of launching drones to hit enemy targets.

The Indian forces used a number of loitering munitions like the Nagastra, Sky Strikers, Harpy and Harop to target enemy targets during Operation Sindoor to destroy enemy bases and Pakistan Army bases after extension of hostilities by Pakistan. (ANI)