‘Technology wins before contact. Training wins the war’: How drones are reinventing India’s infantryman

The infantryman has always evolved with the battlefield. The Lee-Enfield gave way to the self-loading rifle, the INSAS and, today, weapons such as the AK-203 and SIG716. Night sights, body armour, secure communications and better anti-tank weapons steadily expanded what a soldier could do. But the latest transformation goes far beyond the rifle.

Modern infantry increasingly operates alongside drones, thermal and optical sights, digital communications, counter-drone systems and precision weapons. The proliferation of FPV drones and loitering munitions in recent conflicts has also brought aerial surveillance and attack down to the level of small tactical units.

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India is adapting to this battlefield. The Army has been developing new formations including Bhairav battalions and Ashni drone platoons, while UAS and counter-UAS capabilities have emerged as key modernisation priorities. The result could fundamentally change what it means to be an infantryman.

And according to Colonel Shekhar Attri (Retd.), a decorated Indian Army Special Forces veteran and former Commanding Officer of 12 PARA (SF), the biggest change may be what the soldier can see, rather than what he can shoot. Speaking on WION's Defence Pulse, Attri summed it up strikingly. “The next war, he carries less of what he will shoot with and more of what he will see with”, he said.

Attri argues that modern warfare is increasingly about shortening the OODA loop: observe, orient, decide and act. Technology is giving even small infantry teams far greater battlefield awareness. Drawing from his own combat experience, he recalled how troops could spend several nights in an ambush without knowing what was happening beyond nearby terrain. Today, a section commander could simply launch a quadcopter. “What would take four hours to climb a hill is done in four minutes.”

But more technology does not necessarily mean more equipment. Attri believes soldiers need fewer systems that they can operate instinctively when combat begins. “Technology does win before the contact. But training is what wins during the war.”

And perhaps the biggest revolution is the drone itself. Attri says drones have already gone beyond the role once occupied by the machine gun. “The drone is now every rank’s weapon.” His warning is that armies cannot afford a slow learning curve. “With drones, we do not have 20 years. Maybe two.” The soldier therefore remains at the centre of battle. But the rifleman is increasingly becoming something more: a shooter, sensor, drone operator and node in a much larger weapons network.