The Ethics of Asymmetrical Drone Warfare. On December 29th, 2020, Indian Air Force Chief RKS Bhadauria during a webinar on “National Security Challenges and Air Power” said that the low-cost and easy availability of simple disruptive technologies such as drones with small state and non-state actors have made them more lethal, agile and capable of generating disproportionate effects. The Ethics of Asymmetrical Drone Warfare.
He especially focused on the role of these disruptive technologies in the hands of non-state actors and said that they have made them more agile, capable of creating disruption, and most importantly, making our defense infrastructure extremely vulnerable. The Ethics of Asymmetrical Drone Warfare.
This warning came in with the increasing threat of asymmetric warfare through drones – until the wee hours of Sunday, June 27, when two low-intensity explosions rocked the technical area of the Air Force base in Jammu. India is not new to this form of asymmetric warfare as it is a form of unconventional warfare usually used against armed forces of large nations, in modern times, it is used by smaller insurgent groups that possess relatively little firepower.
Asymmetrical Warfare, Counter-Insurgency
With the latest technological advancements, the availability of drones has become very common. In 2016, Vikram Mittal, an assistant professor at the United States Military Academy noted that insurgent groups in Afghanistan adopted the usage of drones on the battlefield as they would use cheap, commercial-available quadcopters to drop grenades on coalition patrols. At the latest, we saw the usage of drones in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia wherein the Russian-backed Armenians were fighting against an invisible force. Within six weeks, Armenian forces lost the region which they commanded for almost two decades – key to the win – Turkey-built cheap low-cost drones which shaped the future of the battlefield and the geopolitics in the region.
Just like the Russian Kalashnikov, it is known to be utilitarian and reliable, due to which such drone attack systems have been used in Syria, Libya, Iraq, and Yemen respectively in the conflict zones across the world. While Saudi Arabia has been menaced by the usage of drones by Yemeni Houthis/Iran at various key oil refineries, drones have been causing havoc for quite a while. The most recent attack on the Airbase, has led to the detention of various commanders of LeT (Lashkar-e-Taiba) actively working in Srinagar, but is it the first time drones have been used against the Indian military?
No, last year, India witnessed a high frequency of movement as there have been instances wherein drones have been used to deliver weapons, explosives, and narcotics into J&K. In one of the instances when it was shot down, it was found that drones were used as a ferry across the LoC in the Arnia District of Jammu sector among the other areas.
In a conversation with Abhinav Pandya, Founder of Usanas Foundation- a leading upcoming think tank that specializes in its research on matters of J&K and radicalization, he states that after the abrogation of Article 370, with every passing day, and every false narrative thrashed, Islamabad is feeling the heat of New Delhi’s iron-willed no-nonsense approach. Mr. Abhinav Pandya was among the few counter-terrorism analysts who predicted that there could be a strong likelihood of terrorists using drones to target military and civilian installations in the year 2020 through the unholy nexus of Pakistan, Turkey, and China as the pattern observed in all these attacks are clear and in collusion.
Barring a few exceptionally well-researched articles on drone technology and its usage in the Kashmir terror front, a critical analysis of information collected from present open sources is disturbing.
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Developing Counter measures
Deterring these kinds of threats which we have seen in the hands of the terror group becomes worrisome because developing countermeasures would require Detection of these kinds of drones (Anti-Drone solutions are already being developed by various inter-agencies such as DRDO and collaboration of private players), Identification (due to their low frequency on radar, it becomes impossible to detect them on radar), Destruction (jamming frequency from the handler or destruction while moving), track and eventually defeat as these attacks have only showcased that the escalation on the intensity to attack the military bases with no chances of tracing them back, will encourage these kinds of attack in near future and Indian Army needs to be prepared to face any adverse situation.
One of the important case studies which were crucial in changing the tide against the ISIS-backed small drone attacks on the Coalition group in Afghanistan was – The Asymmetric Warfare Group which focused on how innovation and adaptation enabled the US forces in keeping the threat of lethal terrorist drone to the minimum.
These forces understood every kind of commercial drone available in the market, they made careful note of capabilities and their limitations – decided to train each of the soldiers in anti-drone warfare before moving to Iraq. They learned modified, reshaped doctrines, and fielded them with operational forces in the field. Thus, training and mastering the art of connecting and using commercial jammers to destroy drones before they approach – ergo, significantly reducing the risk of being caught unaware by a small drone in action.
KEY DOCTRINES
After learning these, they focused on these key doctrines which can become, India’s guide and our forces’ way to adapt and counter these particular threats in the coming times:
- You have not defeated an improvised threat until you can defeat it cheaply. (Defeating a 5k Rs Drone with a 1 Lakh Rs Missile isn’t a sustainable loss exchange ratio, India specialises in employing relatively cheap commercial system, it should use them in exploiting more durable, less expensive, and if possible home grown anti-drone programme)
- Disable the enemy’s hand, not just his weapon. (The most formidable remotely operated weapons rely on a human to build, sustain, and operate. India should focus more on developing more tactical drone builders, trainers, and work in close collaboration with private players having artisanal knowledge)
With times to come, New Delhi has been tackling a threat on all fronts, managing peace in Afghanistan and the ceasefire agreement with Pakistan is becoming gruesome as each day passes by, incidents that provoke New Delhi to react and sidetrack progress towards peace are increasing. The academic literature on military innovation should focus on the adoption of new technologies, preparing the forces to deal with unconventional threats, and consider the role of experimentation such as diffusing knowledge and scaling up warfare doctrines because the future of the battlefield, would not just be the army out-fighting, but also out-think and out-innovate its enemies.