As of last night, Pakistan reported that it shot down 12 -25 (depending on the report) Israeli made HAROP Drones sent by India. The HAROP is a Long Range Loitering Munition drone that has a 9 hour endurance and “equipped to hunt high-value targets like unmanned surface vessels, command posts, supply depots, tanks, and air defense systems. ” A Loitering Munition is essentially a fancy name for an assassin or kamakaze drone. These drones track and identify enemy targets and then fly into them.
Assuming Pakistan is not simply spreading propaganda, shooting down 12 Indian Israeli made drones that were designed to destroy Pakistani targets appears to be a great win for the Pakistani military. However, more likely than not, the Indian army was merely testing Pakistani defenses rather than risk any manned aircraft loss. Not to mention, it would be impossible to prove that it was Pakistan that actually knocked them down or they in act blew up when they impacted as they were designed to do. In fact there has been on the ground proof of the HAROP hitting targets in Pakistan. See below:
and another:
How Many HAROP Drones Does India Have?
The latest Open Source Data shows that as of 2019 when India bought 54 more HAROP from Israel’s IAI, the Indian Armed Forces had a total of 110 HAROP Drones.
India has also bought numerous Heron drones from Israel over the years. These are mainly reconnaissance drones that have a long range and the ability to gather information from enemy countries without crossing into their airspace. They can fly at an altitude of 35,000 meters, far higher than the advanced anti-aircraft weapons currently in use. In the current conflict, Pakistan is said to have knocked down 6.
What is not being widely reported is Pakistan’s use of Loitering Munitions drones against India. According to reports from India all of the Pakistani drones were taken out by by the Integrated Counter UAS Grid & Air Defense systems. Targets included the following locations Northern and Western India including Awantipura, Srinagar, Jammu, Pathankot, Amritsar, Kapurthala, Jalandhar, Ludhiana, Adampur, Bhatinda, Chandigarh, Nal, Phalodi, Uttarlai, and Bhuj. These drones are most likely Pakistan’s home grown NESCOM Burraq, a Loitering Munitions drone inspired by the US Predator.
Interestingly, the news outside of Indian platforms is solely focusing on the downing of the Israeli drones – why?
This war is as much about propaganda as any other. Pakistan and its allies like Turkey, Qatar and other Salafi Muslim Brotherhood Islamic countries want to tie Israel and India together in a way that delegitimizes both Israel and India as aggressors. After all, Prime Minister Modi is a proud Hindu Nationalist, something Pakistan has not had to face before.
The current fighting between India and Pakistan is fast becoming an extension of a broader conflict that Israel is also facing. One that sees the Qatar-Turkey Muslim Brotherhood axis push further out and aim for more control over the broader Sunni world, while the non-Muslim nations of Israel and India act as a stop-gap to that expansion.
The current drone battles over Kashmir and eastern Pakistan serve as a reminder that these conflicts are part of a broader geopolitical and cultural conflict finding its way into the mountains of the disputed Jammu and Kashmir province.
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