Armed forces to test capabilities of drones, counter-drone systems

The armed forces will test the capabilities of some of its drones and counter-drone systems during an exercise by the Headquarters Integrated Defence Staff (HQ IDS) in the first week of October, a senior official said on Tuesday.

The exercise will be held somewhere in Madhya Pradesh from October 6-10, sources said.

In his address at a conference on air defence systems here, Air Marshal Rakesh Sinha, Deputy Chief of Integrated Defence Staff (OPS) at HQ IDS, also spoke of the lessons drawn from Operation Sindoor and the need to “stay ahead” of the adversary in military thinking and planning.

The conference hosted in Delhi was themed on ‘Counter UAVs & Air Defence Systems: The Future of Modern Warfare’ and saw participation of senior military officers, representatives of various firms in the defence industry and domain experts.

A senior official of the HQ IDS said the exercise is named ‘Cold Start’.

Later, interacting with PTI on the sidelines of the event, Air Marshal Sinha said the exercise will be held in the Central Sector and will see participation of all three services.

Besides, industry partners, research and development partners, academia and others will be taking part in the upcoming exercise.

“We will be testing some of our drones and counter-drone systems during this exercise... with an aim to have an air defence system and Counter-UAS that is more robust,” Air Marshal Sinha said.

Counter-UAS refers to Counter-Unmanned Aerial Systems.