New Delhi: The Border Roads Organisation (BRO) is constructing India’s first dedicated military drone base in Meerut, Uttar Pradesh. Inspired by Operation Sindoor’s success, the commissioning of dedicated military drone base – a massive 900-acre facility will place India alongside the US, China, Israel, and Turkey.
Fundamentally changing the Indian Army’s deployment of unmanned aerial systems, the base designed exclusively for drone operations will create a new kind of military infrastructure built for the era of autonomous warfare.
The Meerut facility will feature two large hangars and a 2,110-metre runway, long enough to support heavy-lift transport aircraft like the C-130 in addition to long-range drones such as the Predator and Heron. According to BRO estimates, full completion of the base will materialise within 80 to 85 months. When operational, India will join an exclusive club that currently includes only the United States, China, Israel, and Turkey and become the fifth country in the world to run a dedicated military drone base.
The drone strike rate success during Operation Sindoor reset military thinking and is the strategic rationale for the Meerut drone base. A dedicated drone base delivers several tactical advantages over a conventional airbase. Operating costs are significantly lower, with fewer personnel, reduced maintenance overhead, and no need for the vast support infrastructure that fighter jet operations demand. Continuous surveillance becomes possible because, as one drone completes its mission window (often 12 or more hours), another can launch immediately, enabling 24/7 coverage without gaps. In a conflict scenario, having all assets concentrated at one hub also means drones can be rapidly dispatched to multiple fronts simultaneously.
In parallel, the Indian Navy is simultaneously upgrading INS Baaz in the Nicobar Islands, operational since 2012, from a maritime patrol station into a full drone hub. Its runway is being extended to 3,000 metres to accommodate Predator-class drones, giving India persistent surveillance across the entire Indian Ocean, a critical priority given China’s expanding naval presence in the region.
The Indian armed forces are currently operating approximately 200 long-range drones and 5,000 attack drones. To accelerate expansion, the government has signed an agreement with a US company to co-produce V-BAT drones domestically. The V-BAT’s defining feature is its vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) capability; it needs no runway and can launch from any position. It can carry four short-range missiles or GPS-guided smart bombs, making it lethal in both surveillance and precision-strike roles.
Thus, India’s drone warfare capability is undergoing a generational transformation – readying itself future.
