Operation Sindoor: This Indian-made suicide drone wreaked havoc inside Pakistan, sent shivers down terrorists’ spine with…, its built by…, name is…
Operation Sindoor: The Indian armed forces avenged last month’s barbaric Pahalgam terror attack, launching a wave of deadly, precision strikes on as many as nine terrorist bases inside the enemy country on intervening night of Tuesday and Wednesday under Operation Sindoor.
While the missile strikes by the Indian Air Force (IAF) undoubtedly caused the maximum damage, the Indian Army deployed indigenously-built ‘suicide drones’, officially referred to as Low-Cost Miniature Swarm Drone or Loitering Munition System (LMS), to launch precision strikes on terror bases deep inside Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK).
What are LMS ‘kamikaze’ drones?
Developed by India’s state-owned Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) in collaboration private companies such as NewSpace Research and Technologies, LMS drones, also known as ‘suicide drones’ or ‘kamikaze drones’, are designed to loiter in the air for prolonged periods while tracking potential targets.
Once the explosive-laden drone identifies a target, it makes a suicide dive onto its prey, detonating on impact, and destroying it. LMS drones are often deployed in swarms to overwhelm enemy air defense systems by launching simultaneous attacks from multiple directions.
The Army uses LMS drones to strike high-value targets such as terrorist bunkers, weapons caches, radar installations, and enemy command centres.
These kamikaze drones are considered a cost-effective method of destroying high-value targets as they are much more economical to deploy that conventional missiles. These drones carry enough explosive payload that can cause substantial damage to even the most hardened bunkers and military facilities.
How LMS drones work?
Equipped with high-resolution cameras, thermal imaging sensors, and GPS-guided navigation, and carrying a devastating explosive payload, LMS drones are formidable weapons of war, that are highly effective against strategic enemy targets such as hardened bunkers, radar stations, etc.
According to reports, during Operation Sindoor, real-time data from the National Technical Research Organisation (NTRO) was fed to these LMS drones, enabling them to lock onto terrorist positions with pinpoint accuracy.
Suicide drones were introduced in the 1980s when they were used to deliver explosive payload for the Suppression of Enemy Air Defences (SEAD). Due to their low-cost and efficiency, armed forces around the world began to employ LMS drones in various combat roles during the 1990s, but India is among the few nations which makes these drones indigenously.
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