Can Pak drones swarm India today? How Sudarshan Chakra, Kusha are steeling our skies

A year on, Operation Sindoor has given India much more than a memory of dominance over Pakistan. It made India rethink the pace and physics of aerial warfare in an age where the smallest threats can test the biggest defences. We spoke to experts on how India's skies are fortified enough.

"I was posted in Jaisalmer that night. The forces were extremely vigilant along the western frontier. You see, the skies adjoining Pakistan have never been innocent. After Pahalgam, we knew there would be action. Our defences were strong. We also knew we would crush them. And then it happened," says a Lieutenant Colonel from the cavalry, about being present at the India-Pakistan border exactly a year ago.

On May 7, 2025, India's precise missile and air strikes rattled Pakistan's nine terror infrastructure sites. What followed was a short but intense five-day clash that changed how India defends its skies. Pakistan responded with waves of drones and missiles. India's existing air-defence layers, which included the Russian S-400, indigenous Akash missiles and a newly knitted counter-drone grid, stopped every incoming threat. No major damage was reported on the Indian side.

"As Op Sindoor clearly demonstrated, the IAF had a multi-layered defence strategy and necessary air defence systems against the existing drone threat from Pakistan, starting with the Integrated Air Command and Control System (IACCS) on top," Air Marshal Harish Masand (Retd) points out to India Today Digital. That layered backbone ensured that even a coordinated aerial barrage could be absorbed without systemic failure.

The episode, however, exposed a new reality of modern warfare — one that is now visible across battlefields, from Ukraine to the Middle East. Cheap, massed drones and loitering munitions that can overwhelm even sophisticated systems if defences are not layered, fast and economically sustainable.

In the 12 months since, India has moved with unusual speed to close whatever gaps Operation Sindoor revealed. The changes are not centred on a single "game-changing" weapon. The approach has been methodical, spreading upgrades across procurement, indigenous development and doctrinal thinking.

Today, India is working towards building a sky shield that can handle drone swarms, cruise missiles, ballistic threats and even hypersonic weapons without breaking the bank.

HOW INDIA IS STRENGTHENING THE LAYERS OF AIR DEFENCE

The most visible step came this year, in March-April, when the Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) approved five additional S-400 Triumf squadrons — on top of the original five contracted in 2018.

The fourth squadron under the old deal is due for delivery this month, with the fifth expected by year-end.

Each S-400 battery can track hundreds of targets and engage 36 simultaneously at ranges up to 400 km. In Operation Sindoor, the system proved lethal against both high-flying aircraft and low, slow drones. Adding more squadrons plugs coverage gaps along the western and eastern fronts, creating a denser long-range umbrella.

At the medium and short ranges, the focus has decisively shifted to home-grown systems that are cheaper to fire and faster to produce. The Akash missile, already battle-tested in Op Sindoor, has seen accelerated deliveries and integration tweaks.

But perhaps the most striking shift is the return of older systems in new roles.

"Air defence (AD) guns were seen as outdated in the era of fast jets. AD guns have made a comeback in the era of drone swarms and loitering munitions. The army and air force are looking to acquire more air defence guns and upgrading their existing inventory," defence expert Sandeep Unnithan notes.

"The Indian Army's ZU-23-2 guns and L-70 air defence guns are being upgraded with better radars and ammunition to deal with the threat of drones. New next-generation AD guns are being acquired to replace the existing vintage inventory," he adds.

The reasons behind the AD gun's comeback are cost and sustainability. Missile-based systems alone cannot handle endless waves of cheap drones.

This has also pushed the armed forces to rethink how they stock and use ammunition. "The military also plans to increase its 'magazine depth' or its stocking of ammunition given how rapidly ammunition stocks are depleted when fired at drone swarms," Unnithan says. "In an Op Sindoor-like scenario, each gun was firing 10x the ammunition against drone swarms, it led to depletion in ammunition."

MORE ADVANCED COUNTER DRONE SYSTEMS ALSO INCLUDED SINCE OP SINDOOR

Alongside guns, more advanced counter-drone tools are being inducted.

The Army and Air Force are acquiring 16 units of the upgraded Integrated Drone Detection and Interdiction System (IDD&IS) Mark-II, which uses a 10-kilowatt laser to neutralise drones up to 2 km away.

India's private companies are stepping in as well. Systems like Bhargavastra — a micro-missile platform capable of detecting swarms 10 km away and neutralising dozens of targets simultaneously — are being inducted to add another layer.

Man-portable VSHORAD systems are also entering service, giving infantry units their own last-mile protection.

Even civilian infrastructure is now part of the air defence grid. By the end of 2026, at least 10 major airports, including Delhi, Mumbai, Srinagar and Amritsar, will be equipped with dedicated anti-drone systems, including radars, jammers and soft-kill mechanisms.

THE SUDARSHAN CHAKRA VISION, AND AI-POWERED NATIONWIDE NETWORK

The biggest strategic shift is Mission Sudarshan Chakra, announced in August 2025. It is now the overarching blueprint for India's air defence until 2035.

It is not a single weapon but an AI-powered nationwide network that stitches together radars, satellites, missile systems, directed-energy weapons and counter-drone grids. Sitting on top of existing command systems like IACCS, it will give commanders a real-time, unified picture of the airspace.

Complementing this is Project Kusha, an indigenous long-range surface-to-air missile programme being developed jointly by DRDO, the Air Force and the Navy.

Project Kusha aims to create a three-tier missile system covering 60 km to 350 km, effectively supplementing S-400 capabilities. Ground trials for Kusha are reportedly complete, with flight testing expected soon and induction targeted for 2030. Its open architecture is designed to integrate seamlessly into the larger Sudarshan Chakra network.

THE ECONOMICS OF WARFARE A CRITICAL LESSON FROM OPERATION SINDOOR

Together, these efforts address one of the most critical lessons of Operation Sindoor — the economics of modern warfare.

A $20,000 drone cannot be countered indefinitely with million-dollar missiles. The emerging doctrine blends expensive long-range interceptors with low-cost solutions like jamming, lasers, guns and micro-missiles at closer ranges.

Air Marshal Masand (Retd) told India Today Digital that future preparedness will depend not just on systems but sustained investment and innovation. "Strengthening it for the future, particularly against a more capable adversary like China, would require more effort, equipment and, most importantly, funding," he says.

He also points to the growing importance of cost-effective solutions. "I am certain amongst these efforts would be systems for countering drone swarms through more economical measures like microwave systems."

At the same time, he flags structural issues that could slow progress. "Perhaps, the only two areas where I feel more may need to be done is in indigenous secure communications and a more encouraging ecosystem with a greater financial risk appetite for start-ups," he notes, adding that acquisition hurdles often prevent innovative firms from scaling their ideas.

HAS THERE BEEN A DOCTRINAL RESET FOR LINGERING CHALLENGES?

Operation Sindoor marked the first large-scale use of drones by India and Pakistan, a first in South Asia. But it did not fundamentally alter the Air Force's doctrinal core.

"Doctrinally, the IAF already has had a primary focus on air superiority for a long time. This doesn't really need a change," Air Marshal Masand says. "The means to achieve the requisite degree of air superiority necessarily evolves with technology and evolving threats."

Unnithan echoes this continuity. "It has not changed IAF doctrine about the balance between manned and unmanned systems," he says, pointing to the broader regional context. "One of the reasons for this is that the IAF cites the heavy buildup of 4th, 5th and 6th generation manned aircraft by the PAF and PLAAF."

That said, unmanned systems are rapidly gaining prominence. The Indian Air Force has already begun investing in indigenous drone interceptors and expanding its offensive drone capabilities. In March 2026, the Defence Acquisition Council cleared the purchase of 60 Ghatak UCAVs — effectively the equivalent of three heavy unmanned squadrons.

"Each Ghatak is 13 tons and is powered by a dry-thrust Kaveri engine," Unnithan notes, underscoring the scale of this shift.

Yet, the coverage is still uneven in some sectors. Sustaining missile inventories against large-scale drone attacks is expensive. Hypersonic threats are emerging on the horizon. And integrating a vast, multi-layered network like Sudarshan Chakra into a seamless system will test India's technological and organisational capacity.

"Our defence PSUs and DRDO need to be made accountable on their commitments," he says, pointing to delays and cost overruns. "Overpricing and time delays are the major hurdles in the drive for capability development while also wasting precious limited resources," adds the Air Marshal.

What emerges after a year of Operation Sindoor is that India has not chased a silver bullet. Instead, it has begun building something more durable, which is a layered, adaptive and economically viable air-defence architecture to shield its skies.

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