Two Blasts In IAF station In Jammu, Drone Activity Suspected

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Posted in Featured, National

-By NET Web Desk

To carry out Sunday’s blast at an IAF base in Jammu a drone was used, suspects security officials. Several instances being recorded of drones dropping weapons, drugs, and explosives in Jammu and Punjab regions in the past two to three years.

According to a security establishment officer, “Use of drones for surveillance has been there for many years. Even we use them. But in the past few years, we have seen increasing use of drones for dropping weapons and explosives. We have seen them dropping assembled IEDs for future use. The Jammu attack is the first instance of drones being used directly for an attack. These quad-hexacopter drones can carry payloads over 14-15 kg. That makes them quite a threat as so much explosive can cause quite extensive damage,”

The Border Security Force (BSF) has discovered and busted many such drone infiltrations by Pakistan drones in Jammu. On May 14, BSF troops carried out a search operation in the Samba sector after obtaining specific information regarding dropping of arms and ammunition and recovered one AK-47 assault rifle, one pistol, one magazine, 15 rounds for a 9 mm weapon and wrapping material were recovered approximately 250 metres inside Indian territory from the border.

Similarly, last year on June 20, in Kathua district’s Hiranagar sector, the BSF even shot down one such drone carrying arms and ammunition. it was 8 x 6.2ft in size and weighed 18kg. The drone was carrying a payload of nearly 5kg, which includes a US-made M4 semi-automatic carbine, two magazines, 60 rounds and seven Chinese grenades.

The Jammu IAF base is about 14 km from the border. Sources said in the past, drones have dropped weapons as far as 12 km from the border. This was the longest journey that any drone has covered from either side of the border.

The BSF has been pushing the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) to get the latest technology to disable the incoming drones for the past few years. After the assassination of Iranian military officer Qasim Suleimani in a US drone attack in January 2020, they began pushing it with greater vigour.

The officer said.“Some forces have bought drone-disabling technology, but they are area-specific. We want a wall across our border that can cut radio frequency and disable GPS, the two key technologies guiding a majority of drones these days,”.

He added that shooting down drones is the only option that forces have at present. But it has its challenges such as shooting it would require sniper fire and the drone to be within the range also, sighting drones, especially during the night, is not easy.

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