Latest news with #Harops
Economic Times
17-05-2025
- Politics
- Economic Times
AI warfare is here: How intelligent drones Harop and Heron fronted India's Operation Sindoor
Agencies Representative image As we enter the age of artificial intelligence (AI), even wars seem to be becoming AI-first. India's Operation Sindoor onslaught was fronted by intelligent drones, with high-tech Harops and Herons having the ability to loiter, manoeuvre and choose their targets intelligently. Ukraine has managed to stay in the game against powerful conventional Russian forces through jerryrigged autonomous and AI-guided drones, with small, first-personview (FPV) attack drones, guided by algorithms, destroying more Russian armour than any other weapon category. Meanwhile, in Gaza, the Israelis have used advanced algorithms, code-named The Gospel and Lavender, to sift intelligence and suggest targets in real time. In 2020, a Turkish-made Kargu-2 attack drone may have autonomously hunted down fighters in Libya without human orders— possibly the first lethal strike by a truly autonomous weapon. In our imagination, AI warfare is about ar mies of futuristic Terminator robots marching in tandem as they go to war; in reality, the age of AI warfare has already begun. As with everything with war and AI, this kind of warfare using lethal autonomous weapons (LAWs) poses disconcerting questions. LAWs are machines that can identify, select and kill targets without human intervention. Unlike nuclear weapons, these systems are relatively cheap, scalable and hard to control once unleashed. The level of human control can vary, from 'human-in-the-loop' systems requiring authorisation for engagement , to 'human-on-the-loop' where a human can override autonomous actions, and finally 'humanout-of-the-loop' systems operating without any human involvement post-activation. This possibility of a new kind of war, where a machine makes lifeand-death decisions, has spurred further calls at the UN to ban such weapons. There are fears among ethicists and human rights bodies of accidental escalation, loss of accountability, or full-scale 'drone wars' with no human restraint. Clearly, nations are not on the same page, as furious development continues among major powers that see military gains in letting AI take the reins. AI warfare has gone beyond tactical advantages to established policy, with the Chinese military doctrine explicitly mentioning 'intelligentised warfare' as its future. While the notion of LAWs and AI warfare is horrific, this article deliberately steps beyond the familiar 'ban or regulate' discourse to explore a few contrarian and counterintuitive views that argue AI could perhaps make war more humane. One counterintuitive argument is that outsourcing war to machines could save human lives. If robots can shoulder the most dangerous tasks, human soldiers stay out of harm's way. Maybe it is better to send a disposable machine into a kill-zone to fight another machine, than a young soldier trying to kill another? Recent conflicts hint at this lifesaving potential: Azerbaijan's victory over Armenia in the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh war, for example, was achieved largely through superior drones, greatly reducing its own casualties. This could potentially usher in an era of 'boutique wars' or persistent, low-intensity conflicts waged primarily by AI systems, flying below the threshold that typically triggers major international intervention. This sounds tempting but has the downside of making war 'risk-free' for the side that has more of these killer machines, making leaders grow more willing to launch military adventures. A second contrarian idea is that AI might make warfare more ethical by improving precision. Most militaries already try to minimise collateral damage, as India has been trying to do in Operation Sindoor. AI tools could make 'surgical' strikes even sharper. Human soldiers, despite their valour, are prone to error, fatigue and emotion. AI systems, theoretically, can be trained to avoid civilian zones, assess threats more accurately and stop operations when rules of engagement are violated. Theoretically, an autonomous AI system can be programmed to never fire at a school or a hospital, and it will emotionlessly obey this every single time. Imagine an AI drone that aborts a strike mid-flight because an ambulance enters the frame, something a human pilot might miss in the fog of war. Even the Red Cross has acknowledged that AI-enabled decision support systems 'may enable better decisions by humans… minimising risks for civilians'. The notion of a 'clean war' enabled by AI precision can be a doubleedged sword. The same Israeli AI system that identified militants in Gaza also churned out algorithmic killlists with minimal human review. If flawed data or biased algorithms mislabel a civilian as a threat, an AI could kill innocents with ruthless efficiency. AI can enhance compliance with the laws of war, but it cannot substitute for human judgment. Operation Sindoor has highlighted the danger of misinformation and deepfakes being peddled by mainstream media. AI could change this. Autonomous systems log everything—location data, video footage, target decisions—opening up the possibility of 'algorithmic accountability', with every strike audited, and every action justified, or condemned. Perhaps the most novel contrarian view is expressed in a recent paper 'Superintelligence Strategy: Expert Version' by Eric Schmidt and others, where they borrowed from the Cold War nuclear deterrent of MAD or Mutually Assured Destruction, to propose the concept of MAIM or Mutual Assured AI Malfunction. The idea is that as AI becomes core to military systems, nations may hesitate to strike each other, because attacking one AI system could cause unpredictable ripple effects across both sides. The inherent vulnerability of complex AI systems to sabotage—through cyberattacks, degradation of training data, or even kinetic strikes on critical infrastructure like data centres—creates a de facto state of mutual restraint among AI superpowers. MAIM flips the script on dystopia: instead of AI dooming us, the mutual fear of runaway AI could keep rival powers' aggressive instincts in check. It does seem surreal to discuss how AI could actually make war more humane, if there is such a thing, rather than making it even more horrific than ever. The contrarian perspectives above challenge our instincts, and many would recoil at the idea of killer robots marching in. However, with so much of it becoming reality, we can no longer avoid these questions. We can choose to look at this with horrific pessimism or take a glass half-full approach that technology guided by human values might make future wars less inhuman. Everything, they say, is fair in love and war, and that everything might soon include artificial intelligence.
Time of India
17-05-2025
- Politics
- Time of India
AI warfare is here: How intelligent drones Harop and Heron fronted India's Operation Sindoor
As we enter the age of artificial intelligence (AI), even wars seem to be becoming AI-first. India's Operation Sindoor onslaught was fronted by intelligent drones, with high-tech Harops and Herons having the ability to loiter, manoeuvre and choose their targets intelligently. Ukraine has managed to stay in the game against powerful conventional Russian forces through jerryrigged autonomous and AI-guided drones, with small, first-personview (FPV) attack drones, guided by algorithms, destroying more Russian armour than any other weapon category. Meanwhile, in Gaza, the Israelis have used advanced algorithms, code-named The Gospel and Lavender, to sift intelligence and suggest targets in real time. In 2020, a Turkish-made Kargu-2 attack drone may have autonomously hunted down fighters in Libya without human orders— possibly the first lethal strike by a truly autonomous weapon. In our imagination, AI warfare is about ar mies of futuristic Terminator robots marching in tandem as they go to war; in reality, the age of AI warfare has already begun. As with everything with war and AI, this kind of warfare using lethal autonomous weapons (LAWs) poses disconcerting questions. LAWs are machines that can identify, select and kill targets without human intervention. Unlike nuclear weapons, these systems are relatively cheap, scalable and hard to control once unleashed. The level of human control can vary, from 'human-in-the-loop' systems requiring authorisation for engagement , to 'human-on-the-loop' where a human can override autonomous actions, and finally 'humanout-of-the-loop' systems operating without any human involvement post-activation. This possibility of a new kind of war, where a machine makes lifeand-death decisions, has spurred further calls at the UN to ban such weapons. Live Events There are fears among ethicists and human rights bodies of accidental escalation, loss of accountability, or full-scale 'drone wars' with no human restraint. Clearly, nations are not on the same page, as furious development continues among major powers that see military gains in letting AI take the reins. AI warfare has gone beyond tactical advantages to established policy, with the Chinese military doctrine explicitly mentioning 'intelligentised warfare' as its future. While the notion of LAWs and AI warfare is horrific, this article deliberately steps beyond the familiar 'ban or regulate' discourse to explore a few contrarian and counterintuitive views that argue AI could perhaps make war more humane. Can it save human lives? One counterintuitive argument is that outsourcing war to machines could save human lives. If robots can shoulder the most dangerous tasks, human soldiers stay out of harm's way. Maybe it is better to send a disposable machine into a kill-zone to fight another machine, than a young soldier trying to kill another? Recent conflicts hint at this lifesaving potential: Azerbaijan's victory over Armenia in the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh war, for example, was achieved largely through superior drones, greatly reducing its own casualties. This could potentially usher in an era of 'boutique wars' or persistent, low-intensity conflicts waged primarily by AI systems, flying below the threshold that typically triggers major international intervention. This sounds tempting but has the downside of making war 'risk-free' for the side that has more of these killer machines, making leaders grow more willing to launch military adventures. Can it make warfare more ethical & precise? A second contrarian idea is that AI might make warfare more ethical by improving precision. Most militaries already try to minimise collateral damage, as India has been trying to do in Operation Sindoor. AI tools could make 'surgical' strikes even sharper. Human soldiers, despite their valour, are prone to error, fatigue and emotion. AI systems, theoretically, can be trained to avoid civilian zones, assess threats more accurately and stop operations when rules of engagement are violated. Theoretically, an autonomous AI system can be programmed to never fire at a school or a hospital, and it will emotionlessly obey this every single time. Imagine an AI drone that aborts a strike mid-flight because an ambulance enters the frame, something a human pilot might miss in the fog of war. Even the Red Cross has acknowledged that AI-enabled decision support systems 'may enable better decisions by humans… minimising risks for civilians'. The notion of a 'clean war' enabled by AI precision can be a doubleedged sword. The same Israeli AI system that identified militants in Gaza also churned out algorithmic killlists with minimal human review. If flawed data or biased algorithms mislabel a civilian as a threat, an AI could kill innocents with ruthless efficiency. AI can enhance compliance with the laws of war, but it cannot substitute for human judgment. Can it make war transparent? Operation Sindoor has highlighted the danger of misinformation and deepfakes being peddled by mainstream media. AI could change this. Autonomous systems log everything—location data, video footage, target decisions—opening up the possibility of 'algorithmic accountability', with every strike audited, and every action justified, or condemned. Can it be a new deterrent? Perhaps the most novel contrarian view is expressed in a recent paper 'Superintelligence Strategy: Expert Version' by Eric Schmidt and others, where they borrowed from the Cold War nuclear deterrent of MAD or Mutually Assured Destruction, to propose the concept of MAIM or Mutual Assured AI Malfunction. The idea is that as AI becomes core to military systems, nations may hesitate to strike each other, because attacking one AI system could cause unpredictable ripple effects across both sides. The inherent vulnerability of complex AI systems to sabotage—through cyberattacks, degradation of training data, or even kinetic strikes on critical infrastructure like data centres—creates a de facto state of mutual restraint among AI superpowers. MAIM flips the script on dystopia: instead of AI dooming us, the mutual fear of runaway AI could keep rival powers' aggressive instincts in check. It does seem surreal to discuss how AI could actually make war more humane, if there is such a thing, rather than making it even more horrific than ever. The contrarian perspectives above challenge our instincts, and many would recoil at the idea of killer robots marching in. However, with so much of it becoming reality, we can no longer avoid these questions. We can choose to look at this with horrific pessimism or take a glass half-full approach that technology guided by human values might make future wars less inhuman. Everything, they say, is fair in love and war, and that everything might soon include artificial intelligence.
Ya Libnan
09-05-2025
- Politics
- Ya Libnan
Pakistan says it downed dozens of Israeli-made attack drones launched by India
Pakistan claims it downed more than two dozen Israeli-made Harop drones as the conflict with India intensifies. As the conflict between two nuclear-armed neighbors escalates, Pakistan claims it destroyed more than two dozen Israeli-made Harop drones launched by India, including during an attack on an air defense system in Lahore. India claims it destroyed that system, but did not acknowledge the use or loss of any Harops. Each side also accuses the other of launching missile attacks. The situation is very murky and a flood of blanket claims and assumptions are emanating from both sides, which has overrun social media. 'Pakistan Armed Forces have so far shot down 25 Israeli-made Harop drones,' the Pakistani Defense Ministry claimed in a statement . 'Debris of Israeli-made Harop drones is being recovered from various areas across Pakistan.' Video emerged on social media purporting to show Harop drone remnants recovered by Pakistani forces. YAHOO NEWS
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First Post
08-05-2025
- Politics
- First Post
Neutralising Pak missiles and air defence system: How India is stopping a retaliatory attack
Despite India's warnings, Pakistan has attempted to attack India. However, its missiles aimed at 15 cities were destroyed, and the air defence system neutralised. Here's how Indian forces have prepared to take on the neighbour, as tensions escalate after Operation Sindoor read more the Indian Air Force (IAF) is on high alert, with Sukhoi-30 MKI fighter jets patrolling the skies. Representational image. Reuters All of India is in wait and watch mode. This after the Indian Army and Indian Air Force in the early hours of Wednesday carried out strikes on several terrorist bases in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir in 'Operation Sindoor'. At least 13 people have already been killed in cross-border shelling from Pakistan. Though India has already warned that any military response from Pakistan would result in retaliation, Pakistan has already attempted to hit targets inside India. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Let's take a closer look at how India is prepared to fend-off Pakistan's attacks: Negated Pak's attempt at escalation India on Thursday said it had negated Pakistan's attempts at escalation. This came after Islamabad 'attempted to engage a number of military targets in Northern and Western India', as per Indian Express. checking 'On the night of May 7-8, Pakistan attempted to engage a number of military targets in Northern and Western India including Awantipura, Srinagar, Jammu, Pathankot, Amritsar, Kapurthala, Jalandhar, Ludhiana, Adampur, Bhatinda, Chandigarh, Nal, Phalodi, Uttarlai, and Bhuj, using drones and missiles. These were neutralised by the Integrated Counter UAS Grid and Air Defence systems. The debris of these attacks is now being recovered from a number of locations that prove the Pakistani attacks,' the statement read. India responded by neutralised an 'air defence system" at Lahore. Catch all the live updates from here 'Today morning Indian Armed Forces targeted Air Defence Radars and systems at a number of locations in Pakistan. Indian response has been in the same domain with same intensity as Pakistan. It has been reliably learnt that an Air Defence system at Lahore has been neutralised,' it said. The newspaper reported that India used Israel's Harops — an unmanned combat aerial vehicle — to hit Pakistani military targets. These Harops can loiter in the air close to the designated target and attack it bycrashing into it. Sources told news agency ANI that India used Harpy drones to destroy Pak air defences., STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD India also used the Russian-made S-400 defence system to shoot down missiles aimed at its cities. India had called its Wednesday actions 'focused, measured, and non-escalatory'. Border states preparing as tensions escalate As per NDTV, Rajasthan and Punjab — both of which border Pakistan — are on high alert. The leaves of all police have been cancelled and public gatherings have been limited. The Rajasthan border has been completely shuttered. Border Security Force personnel have been issued shoot-on-sight orders. Rajasthan's Jaisalmer saw a complete blackout from 12 am to 4 pm. Police patrolled inner-city areas and made sure locals returned to their homes. Personnel also conducted awareness campaigns and ensured that the lights were turned off in homes. Several border villages are also ready to be evacuated. Anti-drone systems have been operationalised. Government and private schools in Barmer, Bikaner, Sri Ganganagar, and Jaisalmer have been shuttered and examinations deferred. Business Standard quoted Barmer District Collector Tina Dabi as saying, 'In view of the national security and emergency situation in Barmer district, …. holiday is declared for all the government and non-government (private) schools / educational institutions / CBSE schools / Anganwadis / Madrasas up to class 12th in Barmer district from May 8, 2025 till further orders and the home /common examination to be held from May 8, 2025 is also postponed till further orders.' STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Jodhpur District Collector Gaurav Agarwal said, 'In view of the current situation, a holiday is being declared in all private and government schools and Anganwadis from today till further orders.' A large scale mock drill was carried out on Wednesday evening in Punjab's Amritsar. Amid India-Pakistan tension, 30-minute blackout drill held in Punjab's Ferozepur Cantonment Several parts of the city also underwent blackouts as part of a drill. All of Punjab's border districts have been put on high alert with all public events cancelled, Punjab Cabinet Minister Aman Arora said on Wednesday. 'Punjab shares a 532-kilometre border with Pakistan. Therefore, during any military tension, the role of the Punjab government becomes extremely crucial. All districts near the border have been placed on high alert, and for public safety, the government has cancelled all types of public events,' Arora said. Arora said Punjab Police as the second line of defence is also fully prepared. 'Punjab Police is providing full support to the Indian Army and working together on future preparations,' he said. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Arora also appealed to the people of Punjab to strictly adhere to all government orders to ensure public safety. As per Business Standard, the Indian Air Force (IAF) is on high alert, with Sukhoi-30 MKI fighter jets patrolling the skies from Ganganagar to the Rann of Kutch. Control rooms set up across Valley Control rooms have been set up across 10 districts in Kashmir. 'In view of the prevailing situation, a Joint Control Room is established at the District Emergency Operation Centre (DEOC), Office of the Deputy Commissioner, Srinagar under the overall supervision of the District Disaster Management Authority (DDMA), Srinagar,' the local district magistrate said in an order, as per India TV. People walk past closed shops in Poonch, Jammu and Kashmir. PTI The district magistrate said at the control room will coordinate efforts between several departments, track developments and share information. 'In view of the prevailing situation, a Joint Control Room is established at the District Emergency Operation Centre (DEOC), Office of the Deputy Commissioner, Srinagar under the overall supervision of the District Disaster Management Authority (DDMA), Srinagar,' the local district magistrate said in an order. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD It shall also act as a grievance redressal platform for the general public, enabling efficient resolution of issues arising in real time," the order said. Airports shut, flights cancelled As per NDTV, over two dozen airports across India have been closed till Saturday. These include Srinagar, Leh, Jammu, Pathankot, Chandigarh, Ludhiana, Patiala, Bathinda, Bikaner, Jodhpur, Jaisalmer, Rajkot, Porbandar, Gwalior, Shimla, Dharamshala and Jamnagar. Amritsar Airport has been shut down until further notice. Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police (ADCP-2) Sirivennela, told ANI that 21 North and North-Western India airports will shut until May 10, and no flights will be operated. 'We received information that all flights need to be cancelled and the airport has to be shut down. The whole airport is shut until further notice. As per the central government, 21 airports in North and North-western India will remain shut till May 10. No flights will be operated from here,' the police official told ANI. Reuters quoted the Airports Authority of India as saying that Srinagar airfield has been shut and that there will be no commercial flights operating from the region for the day. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD IndiGo said over 165 flights from multiple domestic airports have been cancelled till May 10 due to restrictions on airspace. HAL on high alert Meanwhile, staff at Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) – who maintain India's fighter planes – have been put on high alert, as per The Times of India. 'Our staff critical for maintenance have been told to be prepared for any requirement and some have been asked to volunteer in case there's a requirement for travel. We've already started an additional shift between 7 pm and 11 pm and if needed, we are prepared to work round the clock,' a HAL source told the newspaper. A retired HAL employee earlier told the newspaper that staff 'worked continuously for over two months' during the Kargil war in 1999. With inputs from agencies
