India’s Eagle Soldiers Defeat Drones: Predator Vs Predator

Nothing can beat an eagle in the air, the prime predator of the troposphere, who rules the open skies. But what happens when this predator is up against a highly advanced man-made flying object invading its sacred space? The result is still 1-0.

According to a report in The Indian Express,. police in Telangana state of India, have started training “eagle soldiers” to hunt rogue drones, by nabbing it in a net. Sounds too fascinating and straight out of a movie? Well, all is happening in India, as the police keep improvising against threats of illegal surveillance and other nefarious purposes through drones.

According to The Indian Express report, Telangana Police have formed “Garuda Squad”, a special five member bird police squad, that is trained to chase and intercept drones weighing 250g to 1kg from entering no-fly zones during VIP movements.

According to the trainers, the primary focus of this squad will be to make the no-fly zone more secure. Not only is this process cost-effective and efficient in counter-attacking on micro drones which are serious security threats because of their size.

On this achievement, Tafseer Iqubal, Deputy Inspector General said, “The training process involved considerable of trial and error, but no birds were harmed in the training. Instead of the bird attacking the drone directly, they have been trained to deploy a net, ensnare the drone, and drag it to a secure, predetermined location away from the public area.” 

The Deputy Inspector General threw more light on this project’s beginning and future goals. He stated that this process was conceptualized in 2021 by the order of the State Government. It took three years to achieve these results and now it is ready and utilized on a pilot basis.

Moreover, in recent times, India’s Home Minister Amit Shah has also spoken about the concerns regarding drones and the need to establish an anti-drone unit to protect the country from these AI-powered drones used in warfare.

Increased Use of  AI Power Drones in Wars And Attack

In recent times the world has been witnessed how these AI drones are increasingly being used in warfare to hunt and kill combatants/civilians. Recently, the use of AI-powered attacking drones was observed in the Russia and Ukraine wars against each other.

Drones have very high precision due to the operator’s privileged view, this allows operators to attack soldiers, hit vehicles, investigate the war field, make war strategies, and more. Because of all of these advantages, these attacking drones are increasingly used in war nowadays.

Moreover, these technological weapons are advancing at a fast pace. The development of drone swarms, where hundreds of AI-powered drones operate in unison, poses a significant threat to traditional defense systems.

The use of AI in warfare raises important ethical questions and challenges in ensuring compliance with international humanitarian law.

Final Thoughts

Drones and modern technology are changing the nature of war, but the achievement by the  Telangana police proved that a natural predator will always be on top in war zones. We have seen earlier also that animals were used in battle such as elephants, horses, eagles, pigeons (For messaging), and more. However, using eagles and other birds in war is still impractical at this stage as well as inhuman. 

As Artificial intelligence-powered drones are becoming an integral part of military operations it is important to establish proper regulations for the use of AI in military warfare

Also Read: Killing Machines: Why We Need to Talk About AI use in Military