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By:

Commodore S.L. Deshmukh

31 October 2024 at 8:30:19 am

The Beam That Blinds the Drone

As cheap drones reshape the battlefield, India’s T-SHUL BEAM points to a future in which electronic warfare may matter as much as firepower The drone has definitively become the weapon of choice for the modern battlefield. Cheap, expendable and increasingly autonomous, unmanned aerial vehicles can now threaten troops, armour, airfields and critical infrastructure without requiring the attacker to risk a pilot. Their proliferation has created a corresponding demand for counter-drone systems...

The Beam That Blinds the Drone

As cheap drones reshape the battlefield, India’s T-SHUL BEAM points to a future in which electronic warfare may matter as much as firepower The drone has definitively become the weapon of choice for the modern battlefield. Cheap, expendable and increasingly autonomous, unmanned aerial vehicles can now threaten troops, armour, airfields and critical infrastructure without requiring the attacker to risk a pilot. Their proliferation has created a corresponding demand for counter-drone systems that can respond quickly and at a cost proportionate to the threat. This is where beam-based anti-drone technology enters the picture. Broadly, such systems fall into two categories. Hard-kill systems use concentrated laser energy to physically damage or destroy a drone. Soft-kill systems, by contrast, use radio-frequency or electromagnetic energy to disrupt the electronic links that allow a drone to communicate, navigate and transmit information. Sophisticated Weaponry Hard-kill laser systems focus an intense beam of light on a vulnerable part of an incoming UAV - its carbon-fibre structure, control surfaces, battery or other critical components. The concentrated energy rapidly heats the target, potentially burning through its structure or disabling optical sensors and bringing the aircraft down. India’s DRDO has demonstrated a 30kW laser system, while Israel’s Rafael has developed the Lite Beam system. Soft-kill systems take a different route. Rather than physically destroying the aircraft, they interfere with the electronic architecture that keeps it airborne. Directional radio-frequency energy can disrupt command-and-control links, video feeds, telemetry and satellite-navigation signals such as GPS or other GNSS services. Depending on the drone and the nature of the disruption, the aircraft may be forced to land, return to its launch point or lose control. It is in this category that the T-SHUL BEAM system developed by Indian defence company IG Defence deserves attention. T-SHUL BEAM is a man-portable, directional counter-drone system designed for tactical deployment. Its multi-band radio-frequency architecture is intended to target several of the links on which unmanned aerial systems depend, including command-and-control, telemetry, video transmission and GNSS navigation. Its directional configuration allows an operator to concentrate electronic countermeasures on a particular aerial target rather than indiscriminately radiating energy across a large area. That matters on a battlefield where the warning time against a small UAV or first-person-view drone may be measured in seconds. The appeal of such a system is therefore not simply that it can counter a drone. It is that it can potentially bring counter-drone capability closer to the soldier and to the tactical edge. Large counter-UAS installations have their place, particularly around fixed and high-value assets. But forward units require systems that can move with them, be deployed rapidly and operate against small, low-cost unmanned platforms without imposing the logistical burden associated with conventional weapons. The T-SHUL BEAM’s significance also lies in its proposed integration with an artificial-intelligence-enabled battle-management architecture. IG Drones, the original equipment manufacturer, has stated that T-SHUL BEAM has been integrated with GRID, its indigenous AI-powered platform. The GRID architecture is intended to bring sensors, intelligence systems, unmanned platforms and command elements into a common operational framework. The attraction of such integration is obvious. Countering drones is increasingly less about a single weapon and more about the speed of the kill chain: detecting a threat, identifying it, deciding what response is appropriate and directing that response before the target disappears. An AI-enabled command architecture can potentially improve situational awareness, facilitate real-time threat detection and coordinate different systems operating simultaneously. This is particularly relevant as drone warfare evolves from isolated attacks towards increasingly complex and potentially swarming operations. A battlefield crowded with drones cannot be managed effectively if every sensor and weapon operates as a separate island. The advantage will increasingly belong to forces capable of turning disparate streams of information into a coherent picture and responding at machine speed. The T-SHUL BEAM’s reported demonstration at Pokhran represents another step in India’s attempt to build a domestic ecosystem spanning drones, counter-drones, artificial intelligence and electronic warfare. Counter-drone warfare is likely to be a recurring requirement rather than a niche capability. Importing every component of such an ecosystem would leave India vulnerable to supply-chain disruptions, technology restrictions and foreign-exchange pressures. Indigenous development, even when undertaken by relatively small private-sector companies, can broaden the country’s technological base and give the armed forces greater freedom to adapt systems to their operational requirements. Economics of the Contest Yet the real measure of any counter-drone system will ultimately be operational rather than promotional. Electronic warfare is inherently a contest between countermeasure and counter-countermeasure. Drone designers can alter frequencies, communications protocols, navigation methods and levels of autonomy. A system that is effective against one generation of drones may require modification against the next. The battlefield, in other words, will remain a technological arms race. The economics of the contest nevertheless favour directed-energy and electronic-warfare solutions. A conventional interceptor expends a missile or projectile against each target. A beam-based system can, subject to its power supply, engagement envelope and other operational constraints, engage targets without expending conventional ammunition. The marginal cost of an interception can consequently be dramatically lower. The beam also travels at effectively the speed of light, removing the flight time associated with kinetic interceptors. In densely populated areas or around sensitive infrastructure, bringing down a drone with a projectile can create its own hazards. Electronic disruption, when properly controlled, offers the possibility of neutralising the threat without sending an interceptor crashing back to earth. These advantages should not obscure the limitations. Soft-kill systems depend on the vulnerabilities of the target’s electronic architecture and may be less effective against increasingly autonomous drones that require fewer external communications. Weather, range, power availability, frequency management and the sophistication of an adversary's electronic countermeasures can all affect performance. No single technology is likely to provide a complete answer. The future of counter-drone warfare will therefore belong not to the beam alone but to layered defence combining. The emergence of systems such as T-SHUL BEAM suggests that India is beginning to build the technological pieces of that architecture at home. (The writer is a retired naval aviation officer and a defence and geopolitical analyst. Views personal.)

End of the Old Boys’ Secretariat

Writer: Abhijit Joshi
Abhijit Joshi
Apr 3
4 min read

With Ashwini Bhide helming the BMC, women in Maharashtra are no longer merely breaking bureaucratic ceilings but redesigning the building itself.

India has a powerful legacy of women power in the political and administrative field, and when the power is in the administrative government, the power game is different.


Take Kiran Bedi, who became India’s first woman to join the Indian Police Service in 1972, was known for her fearless approach and innovative policing techniques, and reformed Tihar Jail with a focus on prisoner rehabilitation. Or Rupan Deol Bajaj, a senior IAS officer, was the first woman to take a case of sexual harassment to court in India — her harasser was none other than ‘Supercop’ KPS Gill. Durga Shakti Nagpal, 2010 batch IAS, made national headlines in 2013 for her relentless drive against illegal sand mining and corruption in Noida as Joint Magistrate.


Then there is Rajni Sekhri Sibal, an IAS officer of the 1986 batch, is credited with pioneering the Beti Bachao Beti Padhao scheme and has held several important positions in education, disaster management, and policy planning. Women power in the administrative space is very prominent, and politicians and senior officials understand this power well.


And now, on the last day of March, Maharashtra added another landmark chapter in the form of Ashwini Bhide, a 1995 batch IAS officer, was appointed as Municipal Commissioner of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation, becoming the first woman ever to head Mumbai’s civic administration. For a city of over 20 million people, managed by India’s richest municipal body, this appointment carries enormous weight. Her appointment follows her role as Additional Chief Secretary in Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis’s office, and she succeeds Bhushan Gagrani, whose tenure ended on March 31. The trust that Fadnavis placed in Bhide is not incidental — she is widely known for her firm administrative approach and result-oriented leadership, and is considered one of the most trusted officers in Maharashtra’s current administrative structure. Bhide did not arrive at this historic post by accident. She is best known for leading the execution of Mumbai Metro Line 3, a technically demanding 33.5 km underground corridor connecting Colaba, Bandra, and SEEPZ a project that involved complex tunnelling, difficult rehabilitation issues, and land-related controversies. She served as Managing Director of Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation Limited in two separate terms, and her capacity to navigate political, technical, and civic complexity simultaneously sets her apart. Between 2020 and 2024, she served as Additional Municipal Commissioner in BMC, handling major civic projects including the Coastal Road execution, urban road planning, and internal project monitoring. This means she already knows BMC’s nerve centres — the departments, the pressure points, the entrenched interests. She is not walking into an unfamiliar institution.


She is returning to one she already helped shape. She topped among women candidates in the Civil Services Examination in 1995, and her professional development has included training at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, the London School of Economics, and Goldman School of Public Policy — a combination that gives her both the on-ground instincts of a career administrator and the global perspective of an urban governance thinker.


Daunting Task

The BMC she inherits is a body under enormous pressure. Mumbai’s infrastructure deficit — potholed roads, recurrent flooding, ageing drainage systems, and a housing crisis that haunts millions — demands both technical mastery and political courage. As Municipal Commissioner, she will oversee water supply, sanitation, solid waste management, public health, and major construction projects simultaneously. Every monsoon is a test. Every contractor lobby is a battle. Every ward office is a small empire. Her expected tenure continues till 2030, giving her rare long-term control over Mumbai’s urban transformation agenda — a window that, if used well, could define the city’s next decade. But BMC politics are notoriously complex, and navigating its internal fiefdoms while delivering outcomes for 20 million citizens will be the ultimate test of her career.


Bhide’s appointment is not an isolated milestone but the latest in a remarkable run of firsts for women in Maharashtra’s administration. In June 2024, IAS officer Sujata Saunik was appointed as the first woman Chief Secretary of Maharashtra, a post that had never been held by a woman in the state’s 64-year history. Around the same time, Rashmi Shukla became the first woman Director General of Police of Maharashtra, the two top civil services posts in the state were simultaneously held by women — the Chief Secretary and the Director General of Police — for the first time in Maharashtra’s history. Sujata Saunik brought over three decades of experience spanning healthcare, finance, education, disaster management, and peacekeeping, including service with the United Nations in Kosovo. Rashmi Shukla built her reputation as a tough and fair law enforcement leader.


Administrative Resolve

The most recent example of Anjana Krishna says it all. On August 31, 2025, DSP Krishna led a team of police and revenue officials to Kurdu village in Solapur to act against illegal sand mining. As they began their work, a crowd of 15–20 people gathered and tried to stop them. What happened next surprised everyone — late Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar called Krishna during the operation. In a video that later went viral, Anjana calmly asked Pawar to call her official number for verification. Someone else might have been unnerved by a call from Pawar. She was not. The controversy left behind a powerful image of what administrative resolve looks like when it wears a calm face.


And now Ashwini Bhide steps into the most complex urban administrative job in the country. What connects Anjana Krishna calmly asking a Deputy CM to call her official number, Sujata Saunik breaking a 64-year ceiling, Rashmi Shukla commanding the state police force, and Ashwini Bhide steering the BMC? It is not merely gender but the refusal to be intimidated by the weight of the office, or by the men who assumed it was always meant for them. Maharashtra is not just witnessing women enter the highest corridors of administration. It is watching them govern. The power game in administration has always been different from politics. It is quieter, more durable and often more decisive. Right now, in Maharashtra, women are playing it better than ever.


(The writer is a political observer. Views personal.)

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