Pak drones: BSF provides Rs 1 lakh reward to frame ‘hit’ groups; deploys spoofers to jam flights

By PTI

NEW DELHI: A money prize of Rs 1 lakh to its ‘hit’ group, an assortment of jammers and spoofers and multi-layered patrols by safety personnel are a few of the measures taken by the Border Security Force (BSF) to verify the growing infiltration of drones carrying medicine and arms from Pakistan into India.

The well-fortified and fenced border alongside the 2 neighbouring nations is witnessing an “onslaught” of drones, probably the most being in Punjab, with sightings greater than tripled and taking pictures of unmanned aerial automobiles (UAVs) gone up a number of occasions in 2022 as in comparison with the final 12 months, official knowledge confirmed.

Each BSF ‘hit’ group on the border that brings down a drone by rifle firing or use of jamming expertise is being rewarded with a money incentive of Rs 1 lakh, in keeping with newest coverage determination taken by the pressure someday again to inspire the troops in battling the drones menace, a senior BSF officer instructed PTI.

An analogous quantity of reward was introduced by the Jalandhar-based Punjab frontier of the pressure in April for the locals or the general public who inform the BSF about these parts who use drones to get medicine and arms from Pakistan, he stated.

This 12 months, until December 25, the BSF has downed 22 drones and the reward of Rs 1 lakh every has been handed out to greater than a dozen ‘hit’ or taking pictures groups deployed on the entrance, until now.

An awardee could possibly be a single trooper or a couple of on a case-by-case foundation, he stated.

All the 22 drone kills, this 12 months, have taken place alongside the Punjab border. Only one drone every was shot down by the BSF in 2020 and final 12 months (in Jammu in 2020 and in Punjab in 2021), the information stated.

According to official knowledge, drone sightings alongside the two,289-km-long India-Pakistan International Border (IB) working alongside Jammu, Punjab, Rajasthan and Gujarat has elevated from 77 in 2020 to 104 final 12 months and 311 this 12 months (until December 23).

Almost 75 per cent of those sightings have been made in Punjab, the place drones have been majorly utilized by the opposite aspect to push in and drop medicine.

The border guarding pressure has additionally deployed an assortment of digital jammers and spoofers to dam the frequencies and navigation path of those narcotics and arms-carrying drones resulting in their immobilisation.

Jammers and spoofers are devices that emit electromagnetic waves and ship faux GPS (world positioning system) indicators respectively to cripple a flying drone and they’re subsequently taken down both by managed piloting of the machine referred to as ‘comfortable kill’ or simply by firing at it utilizing a gun, additionally referred to as a ‘exhausting kill’.

“There have been few instances where the electronic devices deployed by the force in the border areas jammed the drones originating from Pakistan and once the device gets stationary in the air, it was shot down,” a senior officer stated refusing to reveal additional particulars.

What BSF is doing now could be that it has deployed numerous fast position-changing ‘hit’ groups and ‘depth patrols’ within the border areas in order that they will make most kills and even when the drones escape after dropping the payload of medicine or arms, felony parts should not capable of decide it up, the officer stated.

The Punjab Police has offered as many as 200 of its personnel to hold out this activity with the paramilitary pressure.

BSF Director General Pankaj Kumar Singh had stated final month that the pressure has been “bombarded” by the onslaught of drone flights on the western entrance from throughout the Pakistan border.

“The BSF has has been at the receiving end of the drone menace for quite some time,the versatility of the drone, which is very well known, has been posing problems to us with respect to nefarious elements who have found new uses of the drone and the anonymity, the quick flight and quick getting back bypassing the frontiers of the country by going to a sufficient height,” he stated.

The drawback, the DG stated, was grave.

“We do not have a foolproof solution as of now. They (drones) have been bringing across narcotics, arms and ammunition, counterfeit currency and all kinds of things,” the BSF chief stated.

The pressure has now begun performing a forensic evaluation of the chips recovered from the downed drones to analyse their flight path, launching and touchdown level, timing and GPS coordinates, Singh stated.

NEW DELHI: A money prize of Rs 1 lakh to its ‘hit’ group, an assortment of jammers and spoofers and multi-layered patrols by safety personnel are a few of the measures taken by the Border Security Force (BSF) to verify the growing infiltration of drones carrying medicine and arms from Pakistan into India.

The well-fortified and fenced border alongside the 2 neighbouring nations is witnessing an “onslaught” of drones, probably the most being in Punjab, with sightings greater than tripled and taking pictures of unmanned aerial automobiles (UAVs) gone up a number of occasions in 2022 as in comparison with the final 12 months, official knowledge confirmed.

Each BSF ‘hit’ group on the border that brings down a drone by rifle firing or use of jamming expertise is being rewarded with a money incentive of Rs 1 lakh, in keeping with newest coverage determination taken by the pressure someday again to inspire the troops in battling the drones menace, a senior BSF officer instructed PTI.

An analogous quantity of reward was introduced by the Jalandhar-based Punjab frontier of the pressure in April for the locals or the general public who inform the BSF about these parts who use drones to get medicine and arms from Pakistan, he stated.

This 12 months, until December 25, the BSF has downed 22 drones and the reward of Rs 1 lakh every has been handed out to greater than a dozen ‘hit’ or taking pictures groups deployed on the entrance, until now.

An awardee could possibly be a single trooper or a couple of on a case-by-case foundation, he stated.

All the 22 drone kills, this 12 months, have taken place alongside the Punjab border. Only one drone every was shot down by the BSF in 2020 and final 12 months (in Jammu in 2020 and in Punjab in 2021), the information stated.

According to official knowledge, drone sightings alongside the two,289-km-long India-Pakistan International Border (IB) working alongside Jammu, Punjab, Rajasthan and Gujarat has elevated from 77 in 2020 to 104 final 12 months and 311 this 12 months (until December 23).

Almost 75 per cent of those sightings have been made in Punjab, the place drones have been majorly utilized by the opposite aspect to push in and drop medicine.

The border guarding pressure has additionally deployed an assortment of digital jammers and spoofers to dam the frequencies and navigation path of those narcotics and arms-carrying drones resulting in their immobilisation.

Jammers and spoofers are devices that emit electromagnetic waves and ship faux GPS (world positioning system) indicators respectively to cripple a flying drone and they’re subsequently taken down both by managed piloting of the machine referred to as ‘comfortable kill’ or simply by firing at it utilizing a gun, additionally referred to as a ‘exhausting kill’.

“There have been few instances where the electronic devices deployed by the force in the border areas jammed the drones originating from Pakistan and once the device gets stationary in the air, it was shot down,” a senior officer stated refusing to reveal additional particulars.

What BSF is doing now could be that it has deployed numerous fast position-changing ‘hit’ groups and ‘depth patrols’ within the border areas in order that they will make most kills and even when the drones escape after dropping the payload of medicine or arms, felony parts should not capable of decide it up, the officer stated.

The Punjab Police has offered as many as 200 of its personnel to hold out this activity with the paramilitary pressure.

BSF Director General Pankaj Kumar Singh had stated final month that the pressure has been “bombarded” by the onslaught of drone flights on the western entrance from throughout the Pakistan border.

“The BSF has has been at the receiving end of the drone menace for quite some time,the versatility of the drone, which is very well known, has been posing problems to us with respect to nefarious elements who have found new uses of the drone and the anonymity, the quick flight and quick getting back bypassing the frontiers of the country by going to a sufficient height,” he stated.

The drawback, the DG stated, was grave.

“We do not have a foolproof solution as of now. They (drones) have been bringing across narcotics, arms and ammunition, counterfeit currency and all kinds of things,” the BSF chief stated.

The pressure has now begun performing a forensic evaluation of the chips recovered from the downed drones to analyse their flight path, launching and touchdown level, timing and GPS coordinates, Singh stated.