DEHRADUN: Like its namesake in the ‘Mahabharata’, Arjun’s eyes are steadily fixed on the target. In a few deft moves that would have made the ancient epic warrior proud, Arjun, who is actually a black kite, is off from its handler’s arm like a shot and swoops on its target in the skies – a quadcopter drone.
The action, played out in the bilateral military exercise of the Indian and US armies at Auli on Tuesday, was the first public demonstration of how birds of prey like black kites and falcons were being trained to prey on enemy drones/quadcopters.
Colonel Sudhir Chamoli, PRO, Indian Army, told TOI, “The project to train the kites started in 2020. The training process is still going on. Once the training is completed, the Army will decide on where and when to use the trained birds”.
Another army officer added, “The training is part of the innovative measures we keep adopting to neutralise the threat posed by the enemy. These trained birds may also be deployed for surveillance purpose in areas near the China and Pakistan border.”
Meanwhile, at Auli on Tuesday, Arjun and its fellow ‘air warriors’, who were trained at the Army’s Remount And Veterinary Corps Centre in Meerut, could be seen going about their task deftly, with small cameras fitted on their heads. The cameras are for recording videos and surveillance purposes, an Army official said.
The action, played out in the bilateral military exercise of the Indian and US armies at Auli on Tuesday, was the first public demonstration of how birds of prey like black kites and falcons were being trained to prey on enemy drones/quadcopters.
Colonel Sudhir Chamoli, PRO, Indian Army, told TOI, “The project to train the kites started in 2020. The training process is still going on. Once the training is completed, the Army will decide on where and when to use the trained birds”.
Another army officer added, “The training is part of the innovative measures we keep adopting to neutralise the threat posed by the enemy. These trained birds may also be deployed for surveillance purpose in areas near the China and Pakistan border.”
Meanwhile, at Auli on Tuesday, Arjun and its fellow ‘air warriors’, who were trained at the Army’s Remount And Veterinary Corps Centre in Meerut, could be seen going about their task deftly, with small cameras fitted on their heads. The cameras are for recording videos and surveillance purposes, an Army official said.
