Indian Army to overhaul its air-defence systems with new guns, ammunition and radar

New Delhi: With enemies engaging hundreds of drones to change battlefield dynamics in recent conflicts, the Indian Army has started overhauling its archaic air defence mechanism aiming to have new anti-aircraft guns to shoot down the UAVs besides arming itself with advanced missiles, fragmented ammunition, jammers and radar to protect the airspace in key locations.

The first trials of two home-grown anti-aircraft weapons to replace the ageing L-70 guns would be carried out in July while an RFI was issued to buy nine direct energy (laser) weapons to destroy the unmanned aerial systems, a top official said. If the trials are successful, the successors of L-70 guns can be inducted in two years.

“The quantity and quality of what a drone can carry is a cause for concern. In a tactical battle, we are looking at a scenario of having 3,000-4,000 drones over a 400 sq km area. Both sides will have jammers and the air space will be restricted. How do we handle such a scenario is a big challenge,” Lt Gen Sumer Ivan D’cunha, Director General, Army Air Defence said here on Friday.

He said two indigenous companies would be participating in the July trial after which the Army Air Defence unit was looking at procuring 220 of such guns in the first phase to replace the L-70s that was inducted nearly six decades ago.

While some of the L-70s have been upgraded and modified in recent years to take on the UAVs, the Indian Army would be needing more such weapons to counter the threats from unmanned aerial systems.

The overhauling of the army air defence systems comes amidst China majorly boosting its UAV capabilities and exporting combat UAV. Also a few years ago, a drone attack, by Pakistan-based terrorists, took place on an IAF base in Jammu injuring two soldiers.

“The domain of air defence has been changing since 2019, first with the attack on Saudi Aramco's oil facilities in September 2019 followed by the assassination of Iran’s Maj Gen Qasem Soleimani, in January 2020 near Baghdad International Airport, when he was travelling in a convoy,” Lt Gen D’cunha said.

While protecting the Indian air space is the responsibility of the Indian Air Force, the Corps of Army Air Defence is mandated to guard the air space below 5,000 ft in key locations like important cities and strategic installations.

Other new technologies that the army will be procuring include high-power microwave units, fragmented ammunition, SMART ammunition, next gen surveillance radar to detect the incoming UAVs.

Also on the shopping list are new quick reaction-surface to air missiles from DRDO and very short range air defence systems. Two additional regiments of home-grown Akash air defence missiles will be inducted by 2026 and Akashteer air defence network system has been rolled out with over 200 units expected to be in place by March end.