New Delhi: The Indian Navy plans to procure counter-drone systems for its warships and the force’s bases ashore to combat threats from enemy drones. A tender document in this regard was issued on August 29.

“The Ministry of Defence, Government of India, intends to procure Counter Drone System (Soft Kill) for use onboard Indian Naval warships and establishments ashore,” says the Request for Information (RFI) document.

The enemy drones have been a major concern for Army and Air Force establishments in the country and led to the procurement of anti-drone systems by these forces. The Navy has now also decided to buy such systems given that the threat from enemy drones exists on the sea as well as its various bases in the country.

According to the RFI document, the system should have directional ability to jam frequencies used for drone communication and would be capable of carrying out threat evaluation, target classification (nano/mini/micro drone, etc.), target prioritisation, engagement planning, generating fire control solutions, and assignment of targets to weapons with operator control. The counter-drone system should engage multiple targets and perform a “kill assessment”. The response time from assignment of the target to engagement should be such that it is able to achieve threat neutralisation prior reaching the desired minimum interception range.

A Naval Anti-Drone System has been developed by the DRDO with the support of the Indian Navy and is being manufactured by Bharat Electronics Limited.

The counter-drone systems will be procured from Indian vendors. “The system should be capable of installation on and operation from a ship, operation from establishment ashore, including mobile variant and should have 360° coverage through integral radar for aerial and surface target. The radar should have capability for detection and tracking of Mini/Micro drone at 5 km or more, and intercept them while identifying the direction of the drone’s signals,” the document mentions.