On 3 July 2026 the Defence Acquisition Council cleared acquisition proposals worth Rs 52,000 crore, weighted heavily towards counter-drone and air defence capability, including the Akash Tarang anti-UAV electronic warfare system, as Quwa reported. The same year, the India-US exercise Yudh Abhyas 2026 included counter-UAS training in the high-altitude terrain at Auli, according to the US Army.
Counter-drone equipment is arriving. Crews need to be ready to use it.
Why counter-drone work is a crew skill
Stopping a drone is a chain, and any weak link breaks it:
- Detect. Spot a small, fast, low target, often in clutter.
- Identify. Decide whether it is hostile, friendly or civilian.
- Decide. Choose the response, within the rules of engagement.
- Defeat. Jam, spoof, capture or engage.
- Report. Pass the picture up and across, quickly.
Each step is a human decision under time pressure. Equipment helps, but the crew makes the call.
What makes it hard to train
- You cannot fly real threats freely. Live hostile drone scenarios are costly, restricted and hard to repeat.
- Threats change quickly. New drone types and tactics appear faster than training can be rewritten.
- Swarms and multiple targets are almost impossible to rehearse live.
- Coordination between detection, command and defeat teams needs practice as a system.
A training approach that works
- Know the drone. Crews who understand how drones fly, climb, hover and manoeuvre predict threats better. Time on a drone simulator builds that understanding.
- Rehearse the decision chain repeatedly, with realistic timing, before live exercises.
- Train as a team. Detection, command and defeat teams should see the same picture and rehearse the hand-offs.
- Use live exercises for confirmation, not for first exposure.
Where our systems fit
Our VRMDFS drone flying simulator trains operators on seven drone types across ten terrains, including high-altitude and built-up areas, with multiplayer sessions for five or more pilots. Sky-XR provides a shared virtual command centre where teams in different locations see the same operational picture and rehearse coordination. Both can run air-gapped and on-premise.
Building counter-drone training into a new programme? Talk to our defence team.