Stricter rules for unmanned aircraft systems to be fixed by Centre

The first known drone attack on an Indian military establishment took place on Sunday. The Ministry of Civil Aviation wants to take more precaution by implementing stricker rules for unmanned aircraft. 

On Sunday, the first known drone attack on an Indian military establishment took place. Preliminary investigations have revealed that payloads of more than 2 kg were dropped with explosive devices (IEDs) fitted on the Indian Air Force Station in Jammu on Saturday night.

Investigation was being conducted at IAF base by a team each from the Bomb Data Centre of the National Security Guard (NSG) and the National Investigation Agency (NIA). An FIR on terrorism charges have been registered by Jammu Police.

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Keeping this drone attack in mind, the Ministry of Civil Aviation is potentially finding ways to make the existing regulations for unmanned aircraft systems more stringent, government officials said.

A number of measures to counter rogue drones were suggested by the guidelines. It will depend on the vitality of assets being protected.

A senior government official told The Indian Express that the current drone rules are more than enough to get information into system about drones from the manufacturer or importer to end users. However, rogue drones will always be non-compliant. But yes, tightened regulations are required.

A number of measures to counter rogue drones were suggested by the guidelines. The rules called for deployment of a model that consists of primary and passive detection means like radar, radio frequency (RF) detectors, electro-optical and infrared cameras will be used for places of critical national importance. Other than this, soft kill and hard kill measures like RF jammers, GPS spoofers, lasers, and drone catching nets were also suggested to be installed.