Unmanned Aerial Vehicles will be pressed into service in anti-Naxal operations from next week, a move aimed at generating real-time intelligence for the forces engaged in operations in dense forests.
Official sources in the Home Ministry said there will be a trial run of UAVs from next week in which Army may also be roped in because of their expertise in such kind of operations.
The UAVs will be used for intelligence gathering, image capturing and giving details of the topography of the terrain to the units going for operations against the Left-wing extremists, they said.
Sources said the services of UAVs are urgently required, as the forces engaged in anti-Naxal operations needed real-time information to achieve more success.
The UAVs, imported from abroad, have the capacity to fly 5,000 feet above the ground and can quickly provide information to the ground force for appropriate action.
The Centre is also mulling to bring strategic changes in the tactics adopted by ground troops while going for anti-Naxal operations, they said.
Under this, small units of forces will be mobilised for the operations with equal distribution of state and central paramilitary forces, they said.
The government also plans to split the mandate of CRPF into two parts -- one exclusively for counter-insurgency operations and another for law and order duties -- for their better utilisation.
Sources said the initial reports coming from Dantewada indicated that there was basic violation of standard operating procedures, which resulted to such a high casualty. These included mandatory 2/4 formations, a distance of at least 10 feet between each formation and deployment of an advance road-opening party.
The government is also stressing on more rigorous training of paramilitary forces on jungle-warfare before being deployed.
"We are availing the training facilities of Army and may send more and more paramilitary forces to such institutes for better training," an official said.
