Electronic Warfare & Drone Warfare

Operation Sindoor (May 7–8, 2025) — India's four-day, largely non-contact conflict with Pakistan following the Pahalgam terror attack — has become the defining case study shaping India's 2026 defence doctrine. Key lessons being institutionalised:

  • Electronic-intensive, remote, cost-sensitive warfare is now the baseline: Pakistan's use of drone waves from Leh to Sir Creek to saturate and exhaust Indian air defence exposed the need for better jamming, spoofing resistance, and data fusion.
  • India stood up the BSF Drone Warfare School in Tekanpur, Madhya Pradesh — the country's first — training "drone commandos."
  • The armed forces are pivoting toward mass, affordable, AI-enabled, GPS-jam-resilient drones as a core capability rather than a supplementary tool, alongside stronger counter-drone systems.
  • Tri-services training now emphasises Information Operations and psychological warfare — contesting the "perception war" — as a lesson reinforced by both Operation Sindoor and observation of the 2026 US-Iran conflict.
  • Ownership of the "critical control and communication electronic stack" of unmanned systems has emerged as a strategic priority, underlining why indigenous drone and EW manufacturing (not just imported platforms) matters.