The New Indian Express | Air Vice Marshal Anil Golani (Retd)
India's military strategy requires a significant re-evaluation of its investment in unmanned combat systems, moving beyond the current disproportionate focus on aerial drones to include land and sea domains. While the Indian Air Force (IAF) has extensive institutional knowledge and experience with unmanned aerial systems (UAS) since inducting the IAI Harpy in 1999, the Army and Navy have sub-optimally channeled their resources into UAS rather than developing their own domain-specific unmanned ground and sea systems. The article highlights that the 'countermeasure holiday' for drones is over, with effective interceptors like Sting and laser defenses now operational. Applying the economic principle of 'comparative advantage,' the author advocates for each service to specialize in its core domain for unmanned system development, leveraging the IAF's expertise for air systems while the Army and Navy build capabilities for land and sea. Failure to diversify unmanned system development across all three domains risks creating a strategic gap with adversaries, emphasizing that doctrine, training, and operational experience are more critical than mere equipment acquisition.
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