BSF adds drone warfare to its training syllabus

Tekanpur: The Border Security Force (BSF) has updated its training curriculum and added drone warfare as a mandatory subject for its troops and officers, apart from commissioning an innovation centre to develop indigenous tools for the new-age warfare post-Operation Sindoor.

The premier Officers’ Training Academy of the about 2.70 lakh-strong force based in this Madhya Pradesh town near Gwalior has also created a drone technology lab for the students of Rustamji Institute of Technology (RJIT), the only higher education institute run by a paramilitary force under the Union home ministry.

The BSF guards India’s over 6,000-km-long front with Pakistan and Bangladesh, apart from operating the home ministry’s air wing for special missions. During Operation Sindoor, the force countered drone attacks, loitering munitions and launched effective firepower against Pakistani positions along the border.

Eighteen BSF personnel, including two posthumously, were awarded gallantry medals for displaying courage during Operation

Sindoor, launched by India in May following the April 22 Pahalgam terrorist attack that claimed 26 lives.

“We have recently revised the training curriculum for the jawans and officers, and drone technology has now been included as a mandatory subject.

“New standard operating procedures (SOPs) are being formalised and a drone school was recently inaugurated as part of this initiative to make the force self-reliant with indigenously developed technology to combat the changing method of warfare across the globe,” Director of the BSF Academy Shamsher Singh told news agency.

Singh, an Additional Director General (ADG) rank IPS officer, said the force has brought its various arms and engineering workshops, centres, RJIT and allied institutions on one platform. with agency inputs