New Delhi, September 20, 2021 (PPI-OT):Indian Security forces that guard vital installations, airports and even their own camps have been directed to use rubber bullets bearing pump action guns to neutralise low-flying drones till an appropriate technology is found to thwart such so-called aerial attacks.

Also, forces like the Border Security Force (BSF) have recently installed an improvised iron pole mounted light machine gun (LMG) observation post at some of its border deployments against Pakistan to take a 360 degrees aim and shoot down drones or unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) flying at a high altitude.

A latest blueprint was prepared by Indian security agencies to counter the drone threat, if any. The forces deployed for internal security have begun allocating PAGs to their units vulnerable to drone threats, including those deployed for anti-Naxal operations.

“Those who do not have adequate numbers of these non-lethal weapons have been asked to procure them,” a senior Indian home ministry officer said. He said the security units deployed in Kashmir and those guarding airport boundaries have also been asked to provide these arms to their sentries deployed for observation and protection of the campus.

“It has been found that rubber pellets fired by the PAGs can effectively bring down a drone that is flying low at about 60-100 meters from the ground and attempting to either drop bombs or to conduct reconnaissance of the camp area or the installation,” an officer from a Central Armed Police Force (CAPF) said.

The security establishment is still looking at procuring a suitable counter-drone technology for the last few years but the effort has been scrambled in the wake of the first-ever drone attack on the IAF station in Jammu on June 27 where two UAVs dropped bombs injuring two airmen and damaging a portion of a building inside. Former BSF director general Rakesh Asthana had said that such incidents are a “very serious and very dangerous” threat and there is an urgent need to develop counter-technology against this challenge.

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