Page 5 - Drones

India to create new anti-drone unit for border security: Amit Shah

Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Sunday said India will soon create a comprehensive anti-drone unit to secure its borders as the "menace" of unmanned aerial vehicles is going to get serious in the coming days. Addressing BSF troops during the 60th Raising Day event of the force here at its training camp, about 300 km from the India-Pakistan border, Shah said the initial results of a "laser equipped anti-drone gun-mounted" mechanism have been encouraging. This has led to an increase in drone neutralisation and detection cases, up from 3 per cent to 55 per cent, along the India-Pakistan border in Punjab, he said. "The drone menace is going to get more serious in the coming days... We are tackling this issue with a 'whole of government' approach with the defence and research organisations and the DRDO joining hands. "We are going to create a comprehensive anti-drone unit for the country in the coming time," Shah said. According to official data, more than 260 drones have been downed

Russia's drone attack on Ternopil kills one, says Ukraine's military

Ternopil and its surrounding region were under air raid alerts for a couple of hours starting soon after midnight on Monday, according to data provided by Ukraine's air force

Russian missile, drone strikes target Ukraine's energy infrastructure

Russia is engaged in a massive missile and drone attack against Ukraine's energy infrastructure Thursday, officials said, as fears mount about Moscow's intentions to devastate the country's power generation capacity before winter. Attacks on energy facilities are happening all over Ukraine, Energy Minister Herman Halushchenko said in a post on Facebook. He added that emergency power outages are being implemented nationwide. Explosions were reported in Kyiv, Kharkiv, Rivne, Khmelnytskyi, Lutsk, and many other cities in central and western Ukraine. The head of Ukraine's presidential office, Andrii Yermak, said in a Telegram post that Russia had stockpiled missiles to strike Ukrainian infrastructure and wage war against civilians during the cold season. They were helped by their crazy allies, including from North Korea, he wrote. Over 280,000 households in the northwestern Rivne region are currently without electricity because of the attack, said the regional head, Oleksandr Koval. Th

ePlane to trial drone surveillance with Railways, flying taxis by 2026

The ePlane Company is targeting commercial cargo operations in 2025 and passenger flying taxis by 2026

Here's how Russia plotted to mix new weapons among drones in Ukraine

At a secretive factory in Russia's central grasslands, engineers are manufacturing hundreds of decoy drones meant to overwhelm Ukrainian defences as they try to protect against a horrific new weapon, an Associated Press investigation has found. The plant at Russia's Alabuga Special Economic Zone recently started churning out thermobaric drones alongside the decoys, the investigation found. The thermobaric warheads create a vortex of high pressure and heat that can penetrate thick walls. They suck out all the oxygen in their path, and have a fearsome reputation because of the injuries inflicted even outside the initial blast site: Collapsed lungs, crushed eyeballs, brain damage. Russia came up with the plan for decoys in late 2022 and codenamed it Operation False Target, according to a person familiar with Russia's drone production who spoke on condition of anonymity because the industry is highly sensitive. The idea was to launch armed drones along with dozens of decoys, sometimes .

ideaForge boosts India's drone sector with focus on tech indigenisation

ideaForge has the largest operational deployment of indigenous UAVs across India, with an ideaForge-manufactured drone taking off every five minutes on average for surveillance and mapping

India aiming to become global drone manufacturing hub, says Rajnath Singh

India is aiming to become a global hub to manufacture drones as new technologies are bringing fundamental changes to the concept of warfare, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said on Tuesday. In an address at an event, Singh also said that the Modi government is creating an approach of 'adaptive defence' to deal with emerging security challenges. Elaborating on it, he said adaptive defence is not merely responding to what has happened but anticipating what could happen, and preparing for it proactively. "In essence, it involves cultivating a mindset and capability to adapt, innovate and thrive, even in the face of unpredictable and evolving circumstances," he said. "Situational awareness, flexibility at strategic and tactical levels, resilience, agility, and integration with the futuristic technologies are the keys to understand and create adaptive defence," he added. The defence minister said adaptive defence must be the "mantra" of India's strategic formulations and operational ...

Odisha startup Bon V Aero launches fully autonomous drone logistics service

An Odisha-based startup Bon V Aero has launched a fully autonomous logistics drone service called Air Orca. The launch of the drone service was made in the presence of venture capitalist Tim Draper. "Today's launch of Air Orca marks an important advancement for India's logistics sector and for us as an Odisha-based company", said Satyabrata Sathapathy, CEO of Bon V Aero said on Saturday. "Developing and manufacturing this drone indigenously has allowed us to tailor it for India's specific needs. Tim Draper's support strengthens the impact of this launch, and we are grateful for his involvement as we aim to extend Air Orca's benefits to both civilian and defence applications across India," Sathapathy said. Tim Draper said: "It's exciting to witness the launch of Air Orca here in Odisha. Autonomous drones like Air Orca provide practical solutions for modern logistics by expanding reach, flexibility and reliability with myriad use cases from disaster response to high-altitude operatio

Marut Drones raises $6.2 million from Lok Capital in Series A funding

Marut Drones is also exploring disaster management and surveillance applications

Zelenskyy urges export controls, says Russian drones use western components

Zelenskyy further emphasised the importance of enhanced export controls on specialised components and resources, which is crucial to prevent Russia from evading the sanctions imposed

Taiwan to bolster defence by purchasing 1,000 attack drones from US

Taiwan signed a Letter of Offer and Acceptance (LOA) for the drones in late September. The next phase involves formalising contracts to specify quantities, prices, and delivery schedules

Mumbai police impose month-long ban on drones, paragliders

The Mumbai police have banned flying drones, remote-controlled microlight aircraft, paragliders and hot air balloons for a month, an official said on Tuesday. Police on Monday issued a prohibitory order under section 163 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), and it will be in force from October 31 till November 29, an official said. As per the order, terrorists and anti-social elements might use drones, remote-controlled microlight aircraft and paragliders in their attacks to target VVIPs, endanger people's lives and destroy public property in the Mumbai Police commissionerate area. Certain restrictions are necessary to prevent probable sabotages through the flying objects, the order stated. Considering this, flying activities of drones, remote-controlled microlight aircraft and paragliders will not be allowed in the jurisdiction of Mumbai Police except for the aerial surveillance of police or by specific permission of DCP (operations), it added. Violators shall be ...

Total ban on drone imports to encourage local startups, says minister Naidu

Union Minister of Civil Aviation K Ram Mohan Naidu on Tuesday said India has totally banned the import of drones to encourage local talent to manufacture them. Addressing the two-day national drone summit at Amaravati in Andhra Pradesh, the Civil Aviation Minister noted that the government banned drone imports as it does not want some other country or company to benefit at the cost of India. We have banned the total import of drones, why did we do it? We want to encourage more startups to come in this drone sector. We want the people of this country to manufacture drones. We don't want to import drones and let the benefit go to some other country or some other company, said Naidu. According to the union minister, the government wants the young and bright minds of the country to develop new types of drones to cater to solutions which are indigenous to the country, so, with that mindset we banned imports. The aviation minister highlighted that the Centre has liberalised rules for the

Ukraine drone attacks target alcohol plants, says Russian officials

Russia's defence ministry said that its air defence units destroyed a total of 18 Ukrainian drones, but it did not mention Tambov in its tally

North Korea claims finding remains of South Korean drone in its capital

North Korea said Saturday it found the remains of a South Korean drone during a search in its capital, Pyongyang, claiming the drone proved the South's military was behind the alleged drone infiltrations over the city's skies earlier in the month. The North's official Korean Central News Agency released photos showing a seemingly damaged aircraft with wide, V-shaped wings and winglets. It said a joint investigation by North Korea's military and state security agencies concluded that the aircraft, which it said was found on Oct. 13, was the same type of drone that appeared in a South Korean military parade earlier in October. North Korea accused South Korea of flying drones over the night skies of Pyongyang three different times this month to drop anti-North Korean propaganda leaflets. It threatened to respond with force if such flights occur again. The aircraft allegedly found in Pyongyang was likely one of the drones that were used to drop leaflets, North Korea's Defense Ministry .

US sanctions Chinese firms for manufacturing Russian drones against Ukraine

Senior administration official stated that the US has previously warned Beijing about the network, countering Chinese claims that they are unaware of its existence

India-US to finalise Rs 32,000 crore predator drone and MRO facility deal

The deal involves India acquiring 31 predator drones, of which 15 will go to the Indian Navy and 16 will be distributed among the Indian Army and Air Force

Duped into building drones for use in Ukraine: Africans working in Russia

The social media ads promised the young African women a free plane ticket, money and a faraway adventure in Europe. Just complete a computer game and a 100-word Russian vocabulary test. But instead of a work-study programme in fields like hospitality and catering, some of them learned only after arriving on the steppes of Russia's Tatarstan region that they would be toiling in a factory to make weapons of war, assembling thousands of Iranian-designed attack drones to be launched into Ukraine. In interviews with The Associated Press, some of the women complained of long hours under constant surveillance, of broken promises about wages and areas of study, and of working with caustic chemicals that left their skin pockmarked and itching. To fill an urgent labor shortage in wartime Russia, the Kremlin has been recruiting women aged 18-22 from places like Uganda, Rwanda, Kenya, South Sudan, Sierra Leone and Nigeria, as well as the South Asian country of Sri Lanka. The drive is expanding

Explosions rock Beirut as Israel strikes Lebanon on Oct 7 anniv; updates

According to the Israeli military, airstrikes were carried out on several Hezbollah intelligence and weapons storage sites within the Lebanese capital

Houthis claim responsibility for drone attack targeting Tel Aviv, Eilat

The Israel Defence Forces confirmed intercepting a UAV several kilometres off the coast of Tel Aviv