The Border Security Force (BSF) has revised its curriculum, making drone warfare a mandatory subject for its personnel. A drone squadron and school of drone warfare have been commissioned recently in the BSF post-Operation Sindoor.
"We have recently revised the training curriculum for the jawans and officers, and drone technology has now been included as a mandatory subject. New standard operating procedures (SOPs) are being formalised, and a drone school was recently inaugurated as part of this initiative to make the force self-reliant with indigenously developed technology to combat the changing method of warfare across the globe," Director of the BSF Academy Shamsher Singh cited.
Working and boosting its drone warfare tactics, Singh, an Additional Director General (ADG) rank IPS officer, said the force has brought its various arms and engineering workshops, centres, RJIT, and allied institutions on one platform. The force successfully countered drone attacks, loitering munitions, and launched effective firepower against Pakistani positions along the border during May’s four-day conflict.
BSF troops are being trained in the theory and practice of drone flying, anti-drone operations, and tactical deployment of technology, with funds worth about Rs 20 crore being sanctioned to procure gadgets, equipment, and simulators for the new school, officials said.
BSF has also signed several MoUs with different IITs under which IITs and government research organisations are currently also working on a road map for the tactical employment of drone technology in the border force.
The BSF Academy has also created a 'police technology innovation centre' with the participation of its own expert officers, industries, startups, academicians, and innovators to find solutions to emerging challenges in the internal security domain, including drones or unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).
"This centre is looking at 48 identified problems. Drones, artificial intelligence, machine learning, surveillance, and smart mobility are some of the areas that this indigenous platform is working on," a second officer said.
The premier Officers' Training Academy of the about 2.70 lakh-strong force based in this Madhya Pradesh town near Gwalior has also created a drone technology lab for the students of Rustamji Institute of Technology (RJIT), the only higher education institute run by a paramilitary force under the Union Home Ministry.
A special area that the B.Tech students of RJIT are working on in their lab is improving and bringing about improvisations so that drones can be better used by the BSF for surveillance, defence, and tactical combat, said the officer on anonymity.
Meanwhile, BSF’s recently opened drone school has just trained its first batch of about 45 personnel in drone commando and drone warrior courses. The second batch is undergoing training. BSF is aiming to train around 500 personnel annually. The number will be gradually increased, an instructor at the centre said.
This drone commando course is for the jawans and junior-rank officials, while the drone warriors capsule is for the officers, who will plan and supervise such operations during peace and war. BSF has prepared the tutorials after studying the recent usage of unmanned aerial platforms in combat across the world, like the Ukraine-Russia war, apart from the ones used by countries like the US, China, Turkiye, and Pakistan.
Coordination with the drone assets of the defence forces and that of the BSF during active war scenarios is also a plan in the works, the second officer quoted above said.
BSF is responsible for protecting India's over 6,000-km-long front with Pakistan and Bangladesh, apart from operating the home ministry's air wing for special missions. Eighteen BSF personnel, including two posthumously, were awarded gallantry medals for displaying courage during Operation Sindoor.
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