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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.)

NYC proclaims April 14 as ‘B. R. Ambedkar Day’

Quaid Najmi
Apr 12, 2025
3 min read

Updated: Apr 13, 2025

Mumbai/New York: In a historic move, the New York city has declared April 14 as ‘Dr. Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar Day’ to honor the Chief Architect of Indian Constitution, gladdening hearts of Indians, especially Dalits in the USA, officials said.

 

The distinction, first ever by a major US city, comes on Dr. Ambedkar’s 134th birth anniversary (Monday) and to recognize the contributions of one of the world’s most transformative champions of equality and civil rights.

 

New York City Mayor Eric Adams made the Proclamation, acknowledging the Columbia University educated Dr. Ambedkar’s towering legacy in advancing democracy, dignity, women’s empowerment and justice for historically marginalized communities.

 

“Dr. Ambedkar — whose message to his followers was ‘educate, agitate, organize!’—advocated against the exploitation of farmers and tenants in India, as well as the social institution of untouchability. He spent the rest of his life fighting for the diversity, equity and inclusion which, collectively, have long defined the five boroughs,” said Mayor Adams.

 

Prominent Indians like New Jersey-India Commission (NJIC)’s Commissioner Deelip Mhaske and President of Foundation for Human Horizon; businessman and Nimit Palace Hotels founder Ashu Singh; ex-Columbia University Prof. Akansha Anand; Dr. Snehal Ukey, originally from Nagpur, and others warmly welcomed Mayor Adams’ initiative.

 

“In 2016, with the support of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, we initiated the first-ever Ambedkar Jayanti celebrations at the United Nations Headquarters in New York. It continues as one of the most important international observances in the UN,” Mhaske told The Perfect Voice from New York.

 

Another successful campaign was launched in New York for the Special Day to promote Dr. Ambedkar’s legacy while Parliaments in over 100 countries, UN Missions and academic institutions also celebrate his contributions to uplift the depressed sections globally, added Mhaske.

 

Earlier in 2023, Mhaske and others succeeded to co-name the East 63rd Street in Manhattan, NYC, as “Dr. B. R. Ambedkar Way” – the first-ever such dedication in any US street.

 

Since April 2023, New Jersey state’s Jersey City Hall hoists the iconic Dalit Flag – blue with a white Ashoka Chakra in the centre – for the entire month to commemorate Dr. Ambedkar, with over four dozen other events.

 

There are innumerable busts, statues and portraits of Dr. Ambedkar all over US and in public or private institutions where similar celebrations are carried out on all important days linked to the ‘Champion of the Masses’, said Mhaske.

 

Born on April 14, 1891 in Mhow (Central India, now in Madhya Pradesh), Dr. Ambedkar was a prominent freedom-fighter, India’s first Law Minister, the Chief Architect of the Constitution which came into force on Jan. 26, 1950 (now, celebrated as Republic Day).

 

On Dec. 6, 1956, Dr. Ambedkar succumbed to a brief illness at 65 in Delhi, and the next day, his mortal remains were consigned to the flames in a Buddhist cremation at Dadar Beach in Mumbai – with the place now a sacred monument called Chaityabhoomi.


Dr. Ambedkar on a budget in the US (1913-1916):

A bright, wide-eyed, already married young Bhimrao, then 22, landed in the US (1913) to pursue his post-graduations in the hallowed portals of the Columbia University in New York.

 

The opportunity for three years came when he bagged a Sterling Pound 138/year scholarship, launched by Maharaj Sayajirao Gaekwad III of Baroda State.

 

Reaching the US barely months after his father died, Bhimrao survived on a shoe-string spending only $1.10 daily, plus sent some money home, studied mostly on the university campus or other local academic institutions to save time and resources.

 

He completed his MA and PhD in Columbia University, later, a PhD and DSc from London School of Economics, and also became a Barrister-at-Law in the UK, making him one of highest educated Indians of that dark era when India reeled under the British Rule.

 

From abroad, Bhimrao would write scores of letters to his family members, friends and others, sharing his concerns for caste and gender equality, democracy and social justice, liberation and empowerment, etc.

 

All of these later reflected when he drafted the Indian Constitution, which ranks among the finest treatises of its kind in the Democratic world and catapulted Bhimrao into a revered ‘Babasaheb’ for his followers all over.

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