Air Space Security

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 Airspace

  • In international law, the space above a particular nation’s territory is owned by the government controlling the territory.
  • The upper limit of national airspace is not defined by international law. However, under the Outer Space Treaty of 1967, airspace ends where outer space begins, as outer space is declared to be free and not subject to national appropriation
  • The treaty, however, did not define the altitude at which outer space begins and airspace ends.
Air sovereignty: It is the fundamental right of a sovereign state to regulate the use of its airspace and enforce its own aviation law.
  • State controls the entry of foreign aircraft into its territory and that persons within its territory are subject to its laws.
  • The principle of airspace sovereignty is established through the Paris Convention on the Regulation of Aerial Navigation (1919) and subsequently by other multilateral treaties.
  • Commercial air transport is divided into scheduled air services (Get permission before fly) and non-scheduled (Get Immediate Permission)flights. Charter flights fall mostly into the latter category.
Prohibited Area
(No Fly Zone)
  • An airspace of defined dimensions above the land areas or territorial waters of India within which the flights are not permitted at any time under any circumstances. Such areas are designated as Prohibited Areas and are identified by the letter (P) preceded by two letter designator of FIR (flight information region) in which the area exists followed by a number
Restricted Area
(Get Permission & Fly)
  • An airspace of defined dimensions above the land areas or territorial waters of India within which the flight of aircraft is restricted (entry with permission) Restricted areas are marked on navigation Charts and are identified by the letter (R) preceded by two letter designator of the concerned FIR followed by a number
Danger Area
(The area became immediate danger. Like war, Cyclone, Bad weather).
  • An airspace of defined dimensions within which activities dangerous to the flight of aircraft exist at the specified times. Such times are notified by Notice to Airmen (NOTAM's).
  • The effect of the notification of the Danger Area is to caution aircraft operators/pilots that it is necessary for them to avoid it for the safety of the aircraft when the areas are active.
  • This type of area is indicated by the letter (D) preceded by two letter designator of the FIR and followed by a number.
  • An Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) is airspace over land or water in which the identification, location, and control of civil aircraft is performed in the interest of national security.
  • They may extend beyond a country's territory to give the country more time to respond to possibly hostile aircraft.
  • The concept of an ADIZ is not defined in any international treaty and is not regulated by any international body.
  • India has demarcated six ADIZ near its territory. These zones have been declared over the.
    • International border with Pakistan,
    • The international border with Nepal,
    • Over the Line of Actual Control with China,
    • Along the eastern borders with Bangladesh, Bhutan and Myanmar and
    • Two in the southern region of India
  • Military enforcement of ADIZs is solely the responsibility of the Indian Air Force and the task is executed through a chain of radars as well.
Special Prohibited Area
  1. The Rashtrapati Bhavan in Delhi.
  2. Parliament Building, Prime Minister's residence, and other important centres in New Delhi.
  3. The airspace around many Defence and Indian Air Force bases are restricted, although new proposals are suggesting opening them for civilian aircraft.
  4. Tirumala Venkateswara Temple in Tirupati state of Andhra Pradesh.
  5. Padmanabhaswamy Temple in Thiruvananthapuram district state of Kerala.
  6. The Taj Mahal, Agra, State of Uttar Pradesh, India.
  7. The Tower of Silence, Mumbai.
  8. Mathura Refinery.
  9. Bhabha Atomic Research Centre.
  10. Sriharikota Space Station in Nellore district state of Andhra Pradesh.
  11. A 10-km radius no-fly zone over Kalpakkam nuclear installation, Tamil Nadu. All flight activity to 10,000 feet (3,000 m) over the Kalpakkam area is prohibited.
  12. Golden Temple in Amritsar, Punjab, India.
Digital Sky Platform: Drone Regulation 1.0.
  • The guidelines (Drone Regulations 1.0) issued by Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) for commercial use of drones or remotely operated aircraft came into force from December 1, 2018.
  • Under this regulation, the Digital Sky Platform will enable online registration of pilots, devices, service providers, and NPNT (No permission, No take-off).
  • The Digital Sky Platform is a unique unmanned traffic management (UTM) system which is expected to facilitate registration and licensing of drones and operators in addition to giving instant (online) clearances to operators for every flight.
  • The airspace has been partitioned into Red Zone (flying not permitted), Yellow Zone (controlled airspace), and Green Zone (automatic permission). The restricted locations are airports, near international border, near coast line, state secretariat complexes strategic locations, military installations.
  • Remotely piloted aircraft have been divided into five categories
    • Nano: Less than or equal to 250 grams.
    • Micro: From 250 grams to 2kg.
    • Small: From 2 kg to 25kg.
    • Medium: From 25kg to 150kg.
    • Large: Greater than 150k
  • Recently, the Indian government has finalized National Counter Rogue Drone Guidelines for handling the threats from Unmanned Aircraft Systems.
  • The genesis of the counter rogue drone guidelines lies in the rising number of drone-related safety incidents across the world including in India.
    • Recent incidents of the utilization of drones to target VVIPs in Venezuela and Saudi Aramco drone attacks are a stark reminder of the threat level from rogue drones.
    • India has an estimated over 6 lakh rogue or unregulated Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs)of various sizes and capacities
  • To handle the above scenario, the Ministry of Civil Aviation has suggested a counter-rogue drone deployment plan, categorized across three models, based on the sensitivity of vital assets and installations.
  • The strategic installations differ from state to state and place to place, based on their geographical condition, criticality and construction type but standard categorization would be:
  • Full Scale; Mid segment; Basic Model.
The Counter-Unmanned Aircraft System (C-UAS) includes the following modern weapons:
  • Sky Fence
    • It aims to block a lethal drone that uses a range of signal disruptors to jam the flight path and prevent them from entering their target, a sensitive installation or event venue.
  • Drone gun
    • It is capable of jamming the radio, a global positioning system (GPS) and a mobile signal between the drone and the pilot.
    • Further, it forces the drone to the ground in good time before it could wreak any damage.
  • Advanced Test High Energy Asset (ATHENA)
    • It works by firing a high energy laser beam on a rogue drone resulting in its complete destruction in the air.
    • It is a very costly technology and is currently being tested by the US army.
  • Drone Catcher
    • It swiftly approaches an enemy drone and grabs it by throwing a net around it.
    • Such a tool is required when a rogue drone is needed to be captured safely to extract incriminating evidence from it
  • Skywall 100
    • It is the ground version of the 'drone catcher' and it works by bringing down a UAV using a parachute that is hurled through a net from 100 Meters distance.
    • In addition to the counter rogue drone deployment models, the civil aviation ministry has also suggested a set of legal procedures to handle rogue drones.
Recently Incident,
  • Drones were used for the first time to drop explosive devices, triggering blasts inside the Air Force Station’s technical area in Jammu.
  • Over the past two years, drones have been deployed regularly by Pakistan-based outfits to smuggle arms, ammunition and drugs into Indian territory.
  • According to government figures, 167 drone sightings were recorded along the border with Pakistan in 2019, and in 2020, there were 77 such sightings. 

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