Security concerns behind delay in forming a drone policy, says Sinha

A policy to regulate the use of unmanned aircraft, like drones, in Indian civil airspace is not likely to be formulated anytime soon due to security concerns.

“The security side of the issue is the major challenge,” said the minister of state for Civil Aviation Jayant Sinha, when asked if government had set any deadline for forming a drone-regulation policy.

“What is unique about India is that our security situation is quite different from virtually every other country. We have a very long border where we are at risk,” says Sinha.

For the past three years, the director general of civil aviation has been deliberating with all stakeholders, including ministries and security agencies, to regulate the use of drones in the airspace but has failed to arrive at any conclusion.

Sinha said the country was struggling to find the right surveillance, monitoring and interception technique for tackling unmanned aircraft and a droneregulation policy could not be formed till such concerns remained.

“We have to be able to put in place surveillance and interception technologies that are fullproof. Until we are sure that we are secure, we will not come out with the policy,” the minister said.

At present, only security and government agencies are permitted to fly drones in India. However, this regulation is often flouted with pilots complaining of sighting drones — presumably being operated by common citizens — around airports, which threatens to compromise aircraft safety.

While Sinha admitted that many countries had put in place regulations for use of drones, he said there was a need to “distinguish between various types of drones to figure out those that can be security threats”.

He also said that there were very few other countries that were dealing with the set of security issues that India was dealing with.

“So, in that sense India does represent a unique case when it comes to framing regulation for drones. It requires extensive threat analysis,” he said.

AT PRESENT, ONLY SECURITY AND GOVT AGENCIES ARE ALLOWED TO FLY DRONES IN INDIA. HOWEVER, RULE IS FLOUTED WITH PILOTS SIGHTING DRONES AROUND AIRPORTS