791 drone intrusions along IB reported in 2025: Defence Ministry
New Delhi (PTI): A total of 791 drone intrusions -- nine incidents along the International Border in Jammu and Kashmir and 782 along IB in Punjab and Rajasthan -- were reported during 2025, the defence ministry said on Wednesday.
"Effective employment of own spoofers and jammers along the western front significantly countered the drone threat," it said.
During this period, 237 drones were brought down by the Indian forces along IB sector -- "five drones with war-like stores, 72 drones with narcotics and 161 drones without any payload", the ministry said in a year-end review statement.
"A total of 791 drone intrusions (nine incidents along IB in J&K and 782 along IB in Punjab/Rajasthan) were reported during this year," it said.
The ministry said the security situation in J&K remains "firmly under control" due to the relentless efforts of the Indian Army.
People have chosen to follow the path of development and has been actively participating in large numbers in all government and Army-run initiatives, it said.
The 'whole-of-nation' approach has resulted in "reduction in violence levels, scaled down protests and zero incidents of stone pelting".
The statement also underlined Operation Sindoor carried out on May 7 eliminating at least 100 terrorists in response to the horrific Pahalgam terror attack that killed 26 innocent civilians.
Indian armed forces had launched a series of precision missile strikes on nine terror camps in Pakistan and Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir under this military action, which resulted in a four-day conflict between India and Pakistan.
The hostilities ended with an understanding on halting the military actions on May 10 following talks over the hotline between army officials of the two sides.
"After the DGMO talks on May 10 and May 12, the situation remains stable though unpredictable. However, there has been an increase in Pakistan attempts to surreptitiously infiltrate terrorists through the LoC (Line of Control) and IB sector," the ministry said in its review.
"Pakistan attempted to activate Poonch-Rajouri region as a "hotbed for proxy war during the year 2023-24," it said.
Therefore, the deliverables for 2025 were clearly defined in terms of maintaining robust anti-infiltration grid, relentless conduct of operations in mid and higher reaches to dislocate or neutralise terrorists and reduce local recruitment of cadres by creating a conducive environment for development, the statement said.
"Security situation in hinterland continues to witness consistent improvement since 2019," it added.
Functionality of training camps, presence of terrorists in launch pads and continuing infiltration attempts substantiate Pakistan's "persistent intent to prosecute a proxy war strategy", the ministry said.
"Significant efforts are being made by Pakistan to exploit the IB sector not only to smuggle weapons and narcotics using drones, but also to infiltrate large strength of terrorists," it said.
The ministry further said in consideration of "ongoing operational concerns", sanction for emergency procurement in the niche technology domains of drone and counter-drone, weapon systems, precision ammunition, electronic warfare systems, surveillance systems, etc., was accorded.
"A total of 29 capability development schemes have already been contracted and another 16 schemes are likely to be contracted in December 2025," it said in its review.
On manufacturing of drones and achieving 'Aatmanirbharta' in ammunition production, the ministry said that "515 Army Base Workshop and select Corps Z Workshops/EME Battalions have established credible drone manufacturing capability using in-house expertise and collaboration with subject matter experts".
"The facilities are state-of-the-art, which meet the quality requirements of drones. A total of 819 drones (surveillance -193, kamikaze/armed/weaponised -337, first pilot view -289) have been manufactured till date by EME units".
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Two injuries, one DNF, a DQ as India end messy World Relays campaign
Gaborone (Botswana) (PTI): Amoj Jacob and Ragul Kumar got injured during the men's 4x400m and 4x100 races respectively as India ended their World Athletics Relays campaign in disappointment on the second day of competitions here on Sunday.
The Indian camp had high hopes of making the 2027 World Championships in the men's 4x400m relay but the team did not finish (DNF) the race as Jacob suffered cramps and pulled out of the race after taking the baton from the first leg runner Dharamveer Choudhary. Rajesh Ramesh and Vishal TK were to run in the third and fourth legs.
Those teams which could not qualify for the 2027 Beijing World Championships by reaching the final round of each of the six relay events on Saturday were given another chance in the second qualification round on Sunday.
The top two teams in each of the two heats (in all six relay events) booked the Beijing ticket on Sunday.
India will now have to try and qualify for the World Championships through the Top Lists of the World Athletics, which is a long and tedious process.
In the men's 4x100m race, third leg runner Ragul Kumar fell down the track after failing to hand over the baton inside the exchange zone to fourth leg runner Gurindervir Singh, which clearly showed the lack of coordination among the runners.
Harsh Santosh Raut and Animesh Kujur ran the first two legs.
The Indian quartet was disqualified and Kumar was seen being taken away from the Field of Play with the help of the volunteers.
It was a comedy of errors in the case of the women's 4x100m race, which saw the baton being dropped during an exchange between first leg runner Tamanna and second runner Nithya Gandhe, though the Indians finished the race in 53.09 seconds.
Gandhe started running quite a distance, but after realising that the baton was not in her hand, she turned and ran back to pick it up.
The only silver-lining for the Indian contingent was the national record time in the mixed 4x100m relay race, though the quartet of Ragul Kumar, Nithya Gandhe, Animesh Kujur and Sneha SS finished sixth in heat number two with a time of 41.35 seconds, bettering the previous national mark of 42.30 seconds set in March in Chandigarh.
The mixed 4x400m relay quartet of Theerthesh P Shetty, Kumari Saloni, Nihal William and Rashdeep Kaur ended at fifth in heat number one with a time of 3 minutes and 19.40 seconds.
On Saturday, all the five Indian relay teams had failed to make it to the respective final rounds and thus missed out on the 2027 World Championships berths.
