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Critical Topics and Their Significance for the UPSC CSE Examination on May 30, 2025

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Autonomous warfare in Operation Sindoor

For Preliminary Examination:  Current events of national and international significance

For Mains Examination: GS III - India's defence sector and acquisition

Context:

Launched in early May, in retaliation to the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack, Operation Sindoor marks a historic milestone, in which Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) played a primary role in direct military combat between two nuclear-armed neighbours, signalling an uncharted era of drone-centric warfare in South Asia

Read about:

Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS)

Medium-Altitude Long-Endurance (MALE)

Key takeaways:

• In the 48 hours leading up to Operation Sindoor, Israeli Heron MK-II drones and India’s indigenously developed TAPAS-BH-201/Rustom-II Medium-Altitude Long-Endurance (MALE) Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR) UAVs reportedly penetrated deep into Pakistani airspace. Their mission was to collect electronic and signals intelligence, as well as thermal data from suspected Islamist terror camps.
• Following the Indian Air Force's (IAF) strikes on nine targets inside Pakistan from May 7 onwards, both India and Pakistan deployed a wide range of unmanned aerial systems (UAS).
• These included ISR UAVs, armed drones, kamikaze loitering munitions, electronic decoys, and quadcopters, which served dual roles in real-time intelligence gathering and precision strikes. As the drone warfare escalated, both nations aimed to dominate the battlefield through continuous aerial surveillance, mapping enemy air defenses, missile sites, command centers, troop formations, and supply points.
• Decoy drones were frequently used to confuse radar systems, bait air defenses, and exhaust interceptor missiles, thereby reducing risks to manned aircraft. This intense drone conflict continued until a ceasefire was declared on May 10.
• During this period, India claimed to have shot down approximately 600 Pakistani drones, releasing intercepted videos and wreckage to substantiate its claims amid a high-stakes information war that paralleled physical confrontations.
• Pakistan countered by alleging that 300 to 400 Indian drones attempted strikes on its military and strategic assets but were intercepted before causing damage. India has neither confirmed nor denied these reports, citing the ongoing nature of Operation Sindoor.
• Open-source intelligence and drone tracking data revealed that India’s offensive utilized a diverse range of UAS, led by domestically developed loitering munitions such as the GPS-guided Nagastra-1 and Israeli-origin Harop drones, capable of autonomously targeting enemy radar systems.
• To overwhelm Pakistani defenses, India also deployed swarm drone formations co-developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and private companies.
• These swarms created radar clutter, provoked premature defensive reactions, and saturated surveillance networks. Priority targets included ammunition depots, Surface-to-Air Missile (SAM) sites, radar installations, and forward operating bases.
• The drone strikes were executed in well-planned waves. Initial sorties deployed decoy drones and electronic warfare systems to saturate radar coverage and provoke early, ineffective SAM launches.