Shaurya Squadrons:
The Indian Army recently began fielding Shaurya Squadrons, dedicated drone sub-units embedded within armoured regiments.
- Shaurya Squadrons are dedicated drone sub-units being inducted into the Indian Army’s armoured regiments.
- They give tank commanders real-time surveillance and precision-strike capability at the unit level.
- Each squadron comprises 20 to 30 personnel trained in drone and counter-drone operations.
- They operate a mix of surveillance drones, attack drones, swarm drones, first-person view (FPV) drones, and loitering munitions.
- The FPV drones can strike enemy armour and logistics nodes, allowing commanders to act without routing requests up the chain of command.
- The aim is to compress the sensor-to-shooter cycle and push drone capability down to the unit level for faster targeting and engagement.
- The sensor-to-shooter cycle refers to the time between detecting a target and destroying it, which is the problem Shaurya Squadrons directly address.
- The Army intends to compress this gap from minutes to seconds.
- The Shaurya Squadron draws from the Army’s prior deployment of Ashni Platoons within infantry battalions.
- Ashni units are also 25 to 30 personnel strong and carry the same blend of surveillance drones, attack drones, and loitering munitions, and are now an integral part of all infantry battalions.
