Pakistan police counter drone attacks with Ukraine-style nets

https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20260909-pakistan-police-coun...

Resembling fishing nets, the mesh lacks the sophistication of other military hardware.

Their use shows how lessons from the war in Ukraine are reverberating on distant fronts such as Pakistan, where security forces are improvising new defences against Islamist insurgents armed with the cheap, easily obtainable devices.

"These drones are easily available in markets, and with a bit of modification a kit for dropping shells can be installed. So it is quite easy and everyone has access to them," Khyber District police officer Waqar Ahmad told AFP.

"We have started installing these... nets to protect our personnel from aerial attacks and to reduce the risk of attacks involving drones."

Made from extra-durable thread, the bespoke, reinforced nets can scupper attacks by entangling enemy drones or by catching munitions, like mortars or grenades, high above the compounds so that they cause less damage if they explode

They are suspended several metres (feet) above the ground, between the top of the front of buildings and roadside concrete walls, forming a protective canopy.

In some frontline Ukrainian cities, nets are hung high and wide across long stretches of road, forming corridors like spiders' webs to thwart aerial attacks.

Draped over the facade of several police premises in the Pakistani province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), which borders Afghanistan, the nets are a new line of defence alongside concrete blocks and other barriers.

KP is experiencing a growing insurgency by the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), with dozens of police killed in attacks on checkpoints this year.

Police are playing catch-up against the militant group, which has deployed drones extensively in attacks since 2024.

About 30 percent of police stations still lack their own devices, a senior officer in the provincial capital Peshawar told AFP.

Drones are readily available at specialised electronics shops across the province, with AFP finding them in around a dozen such stores in shopping malls in Peshawar alone.

They have become a vital part of the TTP's attack toolkit, used not only to strike targets but also for surveillance.

Another senior officer from KP said the militants use drones to monitor "every movement" of their operations, "which creates serious difficulties for us in countering them".

For Muhammad Aamir, a policeman posted at a checkpoint along a road in the province, the nets, alongside boundary walls, have "considerably" reduced the risk of drone attacks and hand grenades being lobbed at the building.

"These incidents caused significant damage and casualties among the police and other security forces. However, the situation has improved now," the 38-year-old told AFP.

But with attacks continuing to claim lives, locals say police need to do more to protect them.

"We want some peace and security in this area. Either the police post should be removed from this location, or the authorities should eliminate the threat posed by the Taliban from this area," said 48-year-old corn seller Gul Haleem.

Shekhar Gupta
@ShekharGupta
India’s defence atmanirbharta needs a dose of realism — and a lot more drones, writes TN Ninan. A thread:

1. Scott Bessent, the US Treasury Secretary, laid out 3 maxims in a recent speech: “The nation that cannot produce what it needs is not truly secure. The nation that depends on its adversaries for critical inputs is not truly sovereign. And the nation that reduces its economics to consumption is not truly prosperous.”

2. The phrase that characterises this new world is ‘weaponised interdependence’. Such weaponisation comes more easily to those in control of the main nodes of the global economy, giving them coercive power. Equally, they could offer choke points for coercive use. For a middle power like India, such a world is more complex & offers many new challenges, & only imperfect answers or solutions.

3. The asymmetric conflicts in Ukraine & Iran pose their own urgent questions for the economy. Hundreds of missiles & drones have been fired in a day, for days on end, in both theatres. Can India hope to develop such a supply capability? Op. Sindoor made clear that wars now are fought in the cyber-physical world. What are the capabilities needed to handle such conflicts? To what extent do we have them?

4. India has always been wary of dependencies. Especially in defence, space & atomic energy, it has sought from the beginning to be self-reliant. The risk is over-reach can result in failure. Over-reach explains why many attempts at self-reliance in defence have failed, such that the country is the world’s 2nd-largest importer of armaments. Major weapons platforms that the country needs are still being imported. These come with forbidding price tags. Moreover, the world sends periodic reminders about supply vulnerabilities.

5. One of the issues in the last decade is that the govt hasn’t found it possible to provide more generous defence budgets, despite the deteriorating security situation. Given India’s manifest shortage of fighter aircraft & its ageing submarine fleet, senior service officers talk of a more challenging military balance with both Pakistan & China. India’s defence spending is just 2.1% of GDP, when global average is 2.5%, & security experts have said India’s should be 3%.

6. Yet, budget limitations may not be as much of a constraint in the future as they have been so far, given the asymmetric David-Goliath scenarios in the Ukraine-Russia & Iran-US conflicts. Most importantly, can India afford to invest less in expensive platform weapons, & focus on cheaper missiles & drones & manufacture them in large enough numbers?

Read the article here:

https://theprint.in/opinion/indias-defence-atmanirbharta/3038146/

https://x.com/ShekharGupta/status/2099835168274231719?s=20

A recent Pakistan Army promotional video has reportedly revealed the Turkish-made Baykar K2 (Kemankeş 2), a long-range one-way attack/loitering munition platform.
News Source - defence.in
According to available information, the K2 is designed for very long-range missions, with reported figures of more than 2,000 km range and 13 hours of endurance, while carrying a substantial warhead.

One of its most interesting features is its approach to GNSS-denied navigation. The system is reported to use electro-optical/infrared sensors and onboard processing to maintain navigation when satellite signals are disrupted.

The platform is also associated with networked and autonomous operations, potentially allowing multiple unmanned systems to coordinate during missions.

For India, however, the key question is not simply the K2's advertised specifications. Its actual threat will depend on how many Pakistan operates, its readiness, targeting network, launch infrastructure and performance under real electronic-warfare conditions.

If confirmed, the reported induction would further deepen the Turkey–Pakistan defence relationship and add another long-range unmanned capability to Pakistan’s strike inventory.