Taj Mahal to have anti-drone system
The Taj Mahal, a UNESCO listed World Heritage monument in Agra, will have an anti-drone system to counter potential aerial threats, a senior police official said on Sunday.
The system will have a range of seven-eight kilometres and it will 'soft kill' any threat once it comes within 200 metres of the main dome, the officer added.
Police personnel are being trained for effective use of this new technological layer to be added to Taj Mahal's security, assistant commissioner of police (ACP) Taj Security, Syed Areeb Ahmed said.
At present, the monument is guarded by Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) inside and by UP police around the walls, he added.
'This anti-drone system is to be installed, once received, within the Taj Mahal complex in the near future for which 15 days' training is underway,' Ahmed said.
'The system will have a range of 7 to 8 kilometres to detect an aerial threat posed by a drone, but will be mainly effective within a 200-metre radius around the main dome of the Taj Mahal,' he said.
The move comes after India carried out precise strikes under Operation Sindoor on nine terror hubs in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir on May 7 in response to the Pahalgam terrorist attack.
A wave of artillery shelling, missiles and drone strikes were carried out by Pakistan. All such aerial threats were neutralised by the Indian armed forces.
'The anti-drone system will provide longitude and latitude to trace the exact location from where the drone is originating and its present location,' Ahmed said.
'The system will automatically jam the signal of any drone entering the area, rendering it inoperable through what is known as a 'soft kill,' he added.
The main dome of the Taj Mahal was covered by a large black cloth during the 1971 India-Pakistan war.
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