When sound becomes a weapon: India explores ‘dhwani’ to bring down drones
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For representative purpose only Photograph: (Unsplash)
Indian scientists are developing acoustic and high-power microwave systems to counter drones, offering new non-kinetic options for future air defence
Across the ages, Indian tradition has carried accounts of ‘dhwani’, or sound, possessing extraordinary power. Stories associated with Dashanan speak of his mastery over sound and vibration, while Indian musical tradition remembers Tansen and Raag Megh Malhar, said to have had the power to bring rain. Now, Indian scientists are exploring whether sound can be harnessed against one of the modern battlefield’s biggest threats: the drone.
Scientists at Chandigarh’s Central Scientific Instruments Organisation (CSIO) have developed an experimental acoustic counter-drone system using high-intensity sound. The technology reportedly seeks to interfere with the MEMS gyroscope that helps a drone maintain its balance and orientation. But sound is only one part of India’s emerging non-kinetic warfare landscape.
Recent reports based on a DRDO Technology Development Fund tender refer to SHIELD, an S-band High-Power Microwave Integrated Evaluation System intended to evaluate the effects of powerful microwave energy on electronic systems. High-power microwaves could potentially interfere with or damage vulnerable electronics without physically striking the target. This could eventually have significant applications against drones and particularly saturation attacks involving multiple UAVs.
Speaking to WION’s Defence Pulse, Dr Prahlada Ramarao, known as the father of India’s Akash missile, said acoustic energy itself can potentially be weaponised. “Acoustic energy can be used as a destructive weapon. Sound, amplitude, frequency and the angle can be managed in such a way that the drone becomes ineffective,” Ramarao said.
He warned that acoustic systems face significant challenges involving beam width, intensity and the ability to effectively influence sensors inside a drone, requiring deeper scientific and engineering work. The larger transformation could fundamentally change air defence. Cheap drones have created an economic problem for militaries forced to expend costly interceptors against inexpensive threats. Electronic warfare, acoustic systems, lasers and high-power microwaves could offer additional layers before a missile needs to be fired.
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Dr. Ramarao believes this hierarchy will increasingly define future air defence. “A missile is the last effort to kill a target. A missile takes time, its travel time is in seconds, whereas microwaves act almost instantaneously. So you would like to try electromagnetic waves, including lasers, first, and only then go for the physical firing of a missile,” Dr Ramarao told WION. The missile will remain indispensable against sophisticated aircraft and strategic threats. But against tomorrow’s drone swarms, energy could increasingly become the ammunition, and the missile the last resort.
