Anti-drone systems along border within six months: Amit Shah in Bikaner

📌 Summary:

• Union Home Minister Amit Shah announced anti-drone systems will be deployed along the international border within six months
• Speaking near the IB in Rajasthan's Bikaner, Shah said BSF must view its traditional role "from a new dimension" amid evolving threats
• BSF jurisdiction has been expanded from 15 km to 50 km from the border to detect illegal construction and demographic changes
• Force is responsible for stopping smuggling of narcotics and weapons via drones; cross-border drone drops are a rising threat in Punjab/Rajasthan
• Stress on identifying receivers of drone payloads on Indian soil to dismantle anti-national networks

🎯 UPSC Relevance: GS3 Internal Security — Border Management, role of security forces; relevance of technology in counter-drone operations

📝 Prelims Facts:

• BSF is the world's largest border guarding force; raised in 1965 after Indo-Pak War; under MHA
• BSF jurisdiction extended from 15 km to 50 km from international border in Punjab, West Bengal & Assam (MHA notification, 2021)
• Anti-drone systems use RF detection, radar, EO/IR sensors and "soft-kill" (jamming) or "hard-kill" (laser/projectile) measures

🔑 Key Term: Anti-Drone System (C-UAS) — Counter-Unmanned Aircraft System combining detection (radar/RF) and neutralisation (jamming, spoofing, kinetic) to defeat hostile drones