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Drone warfare is redefining escalation in the India-Pakistan conflict, enabling precision strikes with deniability but also increasing the risk of miscalculation between the two countries
Image Source: Getty
Drones emerged as the primary weapon of choice for both sides in the latest round of India-Pakistan hostilities. Operation Sindoor, India’s response to the Pahalgam terror attack, began in the form of missile strikes on nine locations housing terrorist infrastructure in Pakistan on 7 May 2025. The effectiveness of the missile attack was bolstered by the use of loitering munitions, or kamikaze drones, that have both surveillance and strike capabilities. Pakistan, in turn, responded by launching Operation Bunyan al-Marsus, targeting Indian military bases. India accused Pakistan of deploying 300-400 drones at 36 locations while firing heavy-calibre weapons along the Line of Control between 8-9 May. India neutralised these using its S-400 defence system and deployed Harpy drones against Pakistan.
Pakistan claims that India also deployed drones and loitering munitions on 9-10 May, hitting at least a dozen targets across the country, including military installations in Karachi, Lahore and Rawalpindi.
India then retaliated by launching Harop drones at four air defence sites in Pakistan, destroying an air defence radar. Pakistan claims that India also deployed drones and loitering munitions on 9-10 May, hitting at least a dozen targets across the country, including military installations in Karachi, Lahore and Rawalpindi. The two nations were able to reach a ceasefire agreement on 10 May, which Pakistan violated within hours of its announcement. Although the truce appears to be holding for now, sightings of drone activity over Barmer and Amritsar have rekindled concerns. In a theatre of conflict increasingly shaped by drones, the escalating tensions raise serious questions about the implications of drone warfare between the two nuclear-armed neighbours.
Both India and Pakistan have been advancing their respective drone ecosystems in recent years, utilising both domestic manufacturing and imports from foreign allies.
India introduced the Drone Rules 2021 to simplify the regulatory landscape and pave the way for rapid innovation and deployment of drones. The Drone Shakti Mission in 2022 further catalysed the domestic ecosystem by encouraging startups, incubators, and public-private partnerships to build technologies across sectors, including defence. By mid-2024, India had inducted between 2,000 and 2,500 drones into its fleet, with the total expenditure ranging from US$ 361.45 million to 421.69 million.
India’s drone fleet primarily consists of Israeli-made reconnaissance Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) such as the IAI Searcher and Heron, along with loitering munitions like the Harpy and Harop. A major milestone in India’s strategic embrace of drones was a US$ 4 billion deal to acquire 31 MQ-9B Predator drones from the United States. India also has several indigenous drones such as the Nagastra-1 suicide drone, Rustom-2 medium altitude long endurance drone, and the Archer-NG armed tactical drone, all of which have demonstrated their technological capabilities. It is also developing swarm drone tactics, which involve deploying a large number of smaller UAVs to overwhelm and saturate the adversary’s air defences.
The Drone Shakti Mission in 2022 further catalysed the domestic ecosystem by encouraging startups, incubators, and public-private partnerships to build technologies across sectors, including defence.
On the defensive side, India’s integrated air defence system consists of L-70 anti-aircraft guns, Zu-23mm cannons, Schilka systems, and specialised counter-unmanned aerial systems (CUAS), which it has been using to intercept Pakistani drones. The S-400 missile defence system, among the most advanced in the world, was activated during the attacks on May 8 and 9.
In terms of backend infrastructure, AI-driven targeting algorithms, GPS-independent navigation systems, and encrypted fleet-level command protocols are being integrated into control centres to ensure drones remain resilient and responsive in complex operational environments.
Pakistan, on the other hand, began developing its drone capabilities in 2009, manufacturing the Burraq drone under a licensing agreement with China. Building on this foundation, Pakistan indigenously developed the Shahpar series. To complement its domestic efforts, Pakistan also procured advanced UAVs from international partners, primarily Türkiye and China. These acquisitions include the CH-4 and Wing Loong II drones from China and the Bayraktar TB2 and Akinci drones from Türkiye. Preliminary reports suggest that the drones employed by Pakistan in the 8-9 May attacks were Asisguard Songar drones, procured from Türkiye. These are UAVs that broadcast real-time video and can feature a range of weapons. Over the last few years, Pakistan has increasingly deployed UAVs to conduct surveillance and drop arms, ammunition, and narcotics inside Indian territory. These attempts often used sophisticated techniques, such as swarm formations or flying under the radar at night to avoid detection.
Most of the drones deployed by both sides appear to be kamikaze drones, similar to the ones that became ubiquitous in the Russia-Ukraine war and are likely to be a standard weapon in battlefields of the future.
But unlike the battlefield in Ukraine, where drone warfare has been central to almost all military operations, their role in the India-Pakistan conflict is more limited and symbolic. Deploying drones represents a lower-level military option and is generally employed as the least escalatory step. Both sides are currently utilising drones to probe each other’s defence systems and assess response times. Since they are less armed and more precise than manned aircraft, they can be seen as a relatively restrained move, unless they are employed as a prelude to a broader conflict. We are currently at an inflexion point, and the playbook for the standard deployment of drones is yet to be developed.
The war in Ukraine has provided a playbook for drone warfare to the rest of the world, demonstrating both the tactical value and strategic implications of widespread drone deployment - lessons that India and Pakistan appear to be internalising with increasing urgency.
In the event of future conflict, we are likely to see a greater range of drone use. Drones offer unparalleled advantages for real-time intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR), precision strikes, and suppression of air defences, without endangering human lives. They are much cheaper to operate than manned aircraft, and their modularity allows quick adaptation to mission-specific roles. The war in Ukraine has provided a playbook for drone warfare to the rest of the world, demonstrating both the tactical value and strategic implications of widespread drone deployment - lessons that India and Pakistan appear to be internalising with increasing urgency.
The increased use of drones in the recent India-Pakistan hostilities represents more than just a tactical shift. It marks a strategic transformation in how limited war may be conducted between nuclear-armed adversaries. While drones offer a relatively restrained form of escalation, their increasing use risks normalising frequent, low-threshold cross-border strikes that could inadvertently spiral into larger confrontations. The precision and deniability drones provide may embolden states to take risks they might have otherwise avoided with conventional forces. In doing so, drone warfare simultaneously reduces the cost of conflict and raises the stakes of miscalculation.
Amoha Basrur is a Junior Fellow at the Centre for Security, Strategy, and Technology at the Observer Research Foundation.
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Amoha Basrur is a Junior Fellow at ORF’s Centre for Security Strategy and Technology. Her research focuses on the national security implications of technology, specifically on ...
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