Indian Army Raises First Baaz Drone Battalion Along Pakistan Front - Its Role and Future
The Indian Army has raised its first ‘Baaz’ drone battalion at Jalandhar under 11 Corps, strengthening its drone operations along the Pakistan front. The new formation will centralise specialist manpower, surveillance and RPA operations. But Baaz is more than a new unit, it reflects the Army’s wider shift towards large-scale drone warfare, AI-enabled operations and an increasingly networked battlefield.
DEFENCE NEWS
The Indian Army has begun raising dedicated ‘Baaz’ drone battalions, with the first such unit established at Jalandhar under 11 Corps, which is responsible for operations along the western front with Pakistan. The move is part of the Army’s post-Operation Sindoor transformation and marks a shift towards dedicated formations designed specifically to operate and manage the rapidly expanding drone ecosystem.
The Baaz battalions will create a specialist pool of personnel responsible for operating, maintaining and managing Remotely Piloted Aircraft (RPA) systems, while providing frontline formations with persistent aerial surveillance, intelligence, target acquisition and battlefield situational awareness. The units are expected to manage the wider RPA lifecycle, from deployment and maintenance to data exploitation and integration with ground forces.
From scattered drone assets to dedicated formations
The creation of Baaz is the result of a rapid expansion in the Army’s use of unmanned systems. Earlier, drone capabilities were largely distributed across RPA flights, infantry units and artillery formations, with individual formations operating systems according to their operational requirements. That model is now being supplemented by dedicated formations capable of concentrating specialist manpower and technical expertise.
The scale of this expansion has been substantial. General Upendra Dwivedi has said that the Army’s drone inventory has grown from a few hundred systems around two years ago to more than 50,000, with the number potentially doubling over the next two to three years. Such growth creates challenges that go beyond procurement: operators, maintainers, data specialists, communications infrastructure, software support and sustained logistics are all required to keep large drone fleets operational.
Baaz battalions are intended to address this institutional requirement. Instead of treating drones simply as another equipment category, the Army is building specialised formations around their operation and sustainment, allowing expertise to be concentrated while frontline units continue to retain organic tactical drone capabilities.
Lessons from the changing battlefield
The transformation has been driven by lessons from recent conflicts and military standoffs. The India-China standoffs along the LAC highlighted the value of persistent aerial surveillance across difficult terrain, while Operation Sindoor provided more recent operational validation of unmanned systems along the western front. Globally, the Russia-Ukraine war has demonstrated how drones have become integral to reconnaissance, artillery targeting, precision strikes, battle damage assessment and the contest for local airspace.
The fundamental lesson is that drones are no longer a niche capability. They have become an integral part of the battlefield’s sensor, targeting and decision-making architecture. Persistent aerial surveillance can provide commanders with continuous visibility, while rapid transmission of sensor data can significantly compress the sensor-to-shooter cycle. At the same time, the proliferation of drones has made counter-UAS capabilities, electronic warfare and resilient communications equally critical.
The Army is therefore developing a layered architecture rather than relying on a single category of drone unit. Ashni drone platoons at the infantry-battalion level provide immediate tactical surveillance, while artillery formations use drones for reconnaissance, target acquisition and loitering-munition operations. At higher levels, specialised formations and Unified Control Centres are being developed to coordinate UAS and counter-UAS assets across the battlefield.
From procurement to absorption
The significance of Baaz lies not simply in the creation of another specialised unit, but in the Army’s changing approach to military technology. General Dwivedi has repeatedly stressed that the challenge is no longer just acquiring advanced systems, but absorbing them into training, doctrine, force structure and combat operations.
This approach is visible across the Army’s wider transformation programme. Alongside Ashni and Baaz, the Army is developing Bhairav Battalions and Rudra All-Arms Brigades for high-tempo, multi-domain operations, Divyastra Batteries and Shaktibaan Regiments for precision and extended-range fires, and the “Eagle on the Arm” concept to expand basic drone proficiency among soldiers.
The objective is to create a force in which unmanned systems operate at multiple levels. Small systems remain available organically to frontline troops, specialist formations operate more capable platforms, and higher headquarters integrate the resulting information into a common operational picture. Baaz therefore represents the specialist layer of a much larger unmanned warfare architecture.
The next phase of the transformation
The Baaz programme fits into the Army’s broader “Decade of Transformation”, which forms part of General Dwivedi’s longer-term vision of an integrated, AI-driven and network-enabled force by 2047. At the 2025 Chanakya Defence Dialogue, he outlined a three-phase transformation: accelerating capability development, force-structure changes and operational readiness up to 2032; consolidating those gains through 2037; and subsequently moving towards a fully integrated force designed for next-generation warfare by 2047.
For drones, the next challenge will be moving from mass acquisition to mass integration. The Army will have to manage increasingly diverse fleets, autonomous systems, AI-assisted data exploitation, secure communications, electronic warfare and counter-drone operations while maintaining the ability to rapidly replenish systems during high-intensity conflict.
The first Baaz battalion at Jalandhar is therefore more than an organisational addition. It represents the Army’s attempt to build the institutional machinery required for a battlefield where drones are ubiquitous and persistent. The advantage will increasingly depend not simply on how many drones a military possesses, but on how effectively it can deploy them at scale, sustain them under combat conditions, convert their data into actionable intelligence and rapidly connect that intelligence to forces capable of acting on it.