The growing dangers of drones

Abhishek Kumar Singh

The whole world is horrified by the apprehension that even terrorists might start using drones. If this happens, it will be impossible to nab them and then punish them. Our country has already heard about this danger. On June 27 this year, a terrorist attack was carried out on the Air Force base in Jammu through drones.

Returning from Afghanistan after fighting a half-hearted battle with the Taliban for twenty years and the stigma of failure, US forces carried out a drone strike in eastern Afghanistan on their way. It was claimed that a terrorist of Islamic State-Khorasan was killed in this attack. This terrorist group had taken about 150 lives in a fidayeen attack on the Kabul airport. This caused a lot of disgrace to America. The US tried to send a message by retaliatory drone strikes that with the help of technology, it can strike wherever and whenever it wants. Although the defeat in the 20-year conflict with the Taliban is proving that wars are fought more on the strength of human strength and vitality, technology can only play the role of an ally in it. But on the strength of technological developments happening around the world, claims are being made that in future big wars will be fought on the basis of robots, artificial intelligence, drones etc. Not only this, this technological development will also be useful to us in the fight against terror. Drones in particular are being viewed from this perspective.

It is noteworthy that the work of drones is not only to fight wars. The role of unmanned aircraft ie drones has become important in many tasks like search, surveillance, espionage, supply, photography-videography. In view of this, recently India has also made major changes in its drone policy. New small enterprises and other stakeholders are expected to benefit greatly under this Drone Policy (Liberalized Drone Rules, 2021), as the earlier Drone Policy (UAS Rules, 2021) required a lot of paper formalities to be completed before flying a drone .

Apart from getting permission to fly drones, the difficulty was that there were very few areas available in the country to operate them. But now according to the new rules, no approval will have to be taken to fly drones in the green zone. Also, no clearance will be required for drone operations up to a height of two hundred feet in an area of ​​eight to twelve kilometers in the vicinity of the airport. Apart from this, drones will be easily used in the operation of air taxis as well as in agriculture, mining, infrastructure construction, surveillance, transportation, mapping, defense and law enforcement work in the new drone policy. This can increase employment in remote and inaccessible areas of the country and accelerate economic development. Not only this, it has also raised the possibility that India can become a global drone hub by 2030, given the domestic demand in terms of information technology and innovation.

Of course, now drones are being seen as an important technology around the world. But its most surprising and controversial aspect is its use in war. The biggest dilemma in this is the dual use of drones. That is, while governments can use them in war with their enemy countries, criminals or terrorists can also use them for the purpose of committing crimes or spreading terrorism. The whole world is afraid of the apprehension that even terrorists may start using drones. If this happens, it will be impossible to nab them and punish them.

Our country has already heard about this danger. On June 27 this year, a terrorist attack was carried out on the Air Force base in Jammu through drones. This attack proved that when high-end technology becomes accessible, it brings with it some good and bad. This was the first drone attack in India. After this, on the advice of investigative agencies, the state government had banned drone flights in Jammu and Kashmir. People were asked to deposit their drones in police stations. Even government departments using drones for survey and surveillance activities in agriculture, environmental protection and disaster-prone areas were asked to inform the local police station before using them. But despite such precautions, drones kept coming several times in the area around the border with Pakistan from June to July. With this, the alarm bells arising from drones are being heard clearly in the country.

Terrorists have also been trying to use them to spread terror for the last two and a half decades. But as far as the use of drones in war is concerned, we find examples of such unmanned self-propelled small aircraft even during the First World War. Accurate efforts to fight war through drones were started in America only in the nineties of the last century. Then the US military used to use drones for military surveillance. Although drones were mostly used for surveillance purposes until the year 2000, the al-Qaeda terrorist attack on the US on September 11, 2001, changed everything. After this attack, America started installing weapons on its military drones. Then in 2001, drones were used for the first time to attack the Taliban in Afghanistan. Later, the US also carried out drone strikes in Iraq, Pakistan, Somalia, Yemen, Libya and Syria.

According to a report, by 2029, more than eighty thousand surveillance drones and more than two thousand attack drones will be purchased worldwide. Among these too, there are signs of a significant increase in the use of military drones in countries like America, China, Russia, Israel, India, France, Australia etc. This can be understood from the fact that last year when the US offered India 30 Seaguardians (unarmed naval version) for $4 billion, it was reported that China was in the process of supplying four armed drones to its friend Pakistan. Is. Apart from this, it is also planning to jointly produce 48 GJ-2 drones with Pakistan. These drones are the military version of the Chinese-designed drone Wing Loong-2. Once built, they will be used by the Pakistani Air Force. This Chinese armed drone is equipped with an air-to-ground missile. However, China is already selling the Wing Loong-2 drone to several countries in Asia and the Middle East. It is currently being used by UAE-backed forces against the Turkish-backed government in Tripoli in the ongoing civil war in Libya.

It is certain that our government as a country will also have to be aware of the military use of drones and their use in terrorist acts. There is a need for more caution in this matter, especially in the presence of an enemy neighbor. It is noteworthy that for the last two years, 70-80 drones have been sighted in Punjab. In some cases they have been killed. So on one hand we have to equip ourselves with modern drones, on the other hand we have to prepare to deal with the dangers of drones.