Army chief outlines India's mega drone push: 5,000 per command, 100 km strike range

India's Army chief said on Tuesday that Pakistan's Director General of Military Operations (DGMO) has been asked to rein in what New Delhi views as repeated drone intrusions across the border. Speaking at the Army's annual press conference, General Upendra Dwivedi said the issue had been raised directly with his Pakistani counterpart and conveyed as unacceptable.

Addressing the media, the Army chief also outlined India's push to significantly scale up its drone capabilities in preparation for future conflicts. He said the Army has taken a decision to manufacture as many drones as possible in-house, with every command either already producing or capable of producing around 5,000 drones. These, he clarified, are not small platforms. India has already test-fired drones with a range of about 100 km and plans to extend this further.

General Dwivedi also referred to recent drone sightings in the Nowshera sector along the Line of Control in Jammu. He said three to five drones were spotted on Sunday evening, with additional sightings over the following days. According to him, around six drones were observed on January 10, and two to three each on January 11 and 12.

The Army chief described these as small drones flying with lights switched on and at relatively low altitudes, appearing only intermittently. He said the assessment was that these were likely defensive drones, possibly deployed to test India's responses or probe for vulnerabilities that could be exploited to push terrorists across the border. However, he added that the outcome for the other side would have been clear, as the Indian Army remains fully alert with no gaps or laxity along the frontier.