NSG deployed to provide counter-drone protection to Srinagar, Jammu IAF bases: DG

The National Security Guard (NSG) chief said the federal counter-terrorist and counter-hijack commando force is enhancing its "counter-terrorism profile" and preparing itself to meet emerging security challenges.

Gurgaon:Counter-terrorism commando force National Security Guard has been deployed at the IAF Srinagar and Jammu stations to provide anti-drone cover to these vital installations, the force's director-general M A Ganapathy said on Saturday.

The first-ever drone attack took place on June 27 at the Indian Air Force (IAF) station in Jammu where two unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), which came from across the border, dropped bombs, injuring two airmen and damaging a portion of a building.

The two IAF facilities in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir are located close to the Pakistan border and are categorised as "sensitive" installations.

The National Security Guard (NSG) chief said the federal counter-terrorist and counter-hijack commando force is enhancing its "counter-terrorism profile" and preparing itself to meet emerging security challenges.

He was speaking during the 37th raising day celebrations of the force, also known as 'black cats', at its garrison in Manesar here.

Ganapathy said the NSG "has been deployed" at the Srinagar and Jammu IAF stations to provide security cover to the facilities against drone attacks and this system is working "successfully."

A senior officer added that this deployment "will continue till full-fledged counter-drone weapons and gadgets are deployed at these two bases".

He said the NSG has an array of anti-drone equipment, radars, jammers and drone killer guns that essentially work for perimeter security.

Soon after the drone attack on the Jammu IAF base, he said, an NSG 'technical surveillance' team was sent to the station which deployed its equipment there and the arrangement was stationed at the base.

Officiating as the chief guest of the event, Minister of State for Home Nityanand Rai lauded the commando force for its operations and said Prime Minister Narendra Modi has brought an "independent security policy" for the country.

The NSG was raised as a federal counter-terrorist force in 1984 to undertake surgical commando operations to neutralise terrorist and hijack threats.

It is also a special squad that provides armed security cover to at least 13 high-risk VIPs at present.

The NSG has five hubs in the country, apart from its main garrison here, and in each of them, a team of commandos is stationed in readiness 24x7 to respond to any threat situation within a 30 minute mobilisation timeframe.

The five NSG hubs or bases are located in Gandhinagar, Mumbai, Kolkata, Hyderabad and Chennai and they were created post the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks.

PTI