India’s new warfare: Drones, data, and the defence race that can't wait

Sarahbeth George

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Warfare isn’t what it used to be. The enemy might not come with boots and rifles, but with buzzing drone swarms, silent cyberattacks, and AI algorithms calculating their every move. For India, this future is already here. The recent exchange of drone fire between India and Pakistan in May 2025—the most serious clash in decades—marked the beginning of a new era. Both sides unleashed loitering munitions and kamikaze drones. For the first time in South Asia, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) became one of the central instruments of conflict. It was a live demonstration of what future conflict looks like.

Thousands of UAVs filled the skies. Some watched. Some struck. Others confused enemy sensors or jammed communications. It was the subcontinent's first true drone war—and perhaps the start of a new era.

Swarms over Sindoor: When the future arrived earlyIndia’s “Operation Sindoor” launched with precision missile strikes on nine terror camps across the Line of Control. But it was the drones that stole the headlines. Loitering munitions like the IAI Harop and kamikaze UAVs from Indian and Israeli origin swarmed across targets. In response, Pakistan retaliated with Turkish Bayraktar TB2s and Chinese Wing Loong IIs.

Each side deployed over 1,000 drones. Not just to attack, but to observe, disrupt, and deceive.

“This marks a significant shift in the character of South Asian warfare,” said Rabia Akhtar, visiting fellow at Harvard’s Belfer Center in a report by Foreign Policy. “Drones weren’t just tools of surveillance. They were instruments of strategic messaging—fast, low-risk, and deadly.”

For the Indian Army, the learning curve was sharp.

“Managing the airspace with so many flying objects, jammers on both sides, and other users of airspace will be a huge challenge,” admitted a senior officer in a Deccan Herald report.