The Indian Army has introduced Bhairav, a state-of-the-art special forces, which does hybrid warfare supported by an excess of 1 lakh trained drone troops in the formations. These brigades are named after the aggressive form of Lord Shiva, to signify the aggressive redesigning of the Army HQ to meet the multi domain threats posed by China and Pakistan. Now 15 Bhairav battalions are deployed on sensitive borders, but it is planned to increase to 25, with the combat approach that would combine light commando operations with precision attacks by drones.

Bhairav: Infantry to Para SF Bridge.

The number of Bhairav battalions is 200-250 soldiers: lean and agile teams comprised of current infantry through a save-and-raise concept. In contrast to heavy mechanized forces, they lay more emphasis on high velocity deployment, deep penetration and small logistic presence on operations such as cross-border attacks, logistics destruction and target designation.

Core capabilities include:

• Rapid attack up to 50km on the enemy posts.
• Integrated drone platoons: surveillance/targeting.
• Loitering ammunition to accuracy slays.
• Para SF force multipling operations.

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The Southern Command is headed by Nasirabad based 2 Bhairav Battalion (Desert Falcons) which had been tested in the Exercise Akhand Prahar under the leadership of Lt Gen Dhiraj Seth. Drone feeds were combined with artillery fires as troops demonstrated 48-hour autonomous actions.

Drone Warfare Backbone

The advantage of Bhairav is the drone integration – all the operatives understand ISR swarms, kamikaze missiles and counter-UAV attacks. The 1 lakh drone pool of Army has in-built experts in various Rudra Brigades keeping sensor-to-shooter times to less than 90 seconds.

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Drone Type	Role	Platforms
Nano/Micro	reconnaissance/artillery spotting	Black Hornet, Switch UAV.
Tactical	Loiter/Precision strike	Nagastra-1, ALS-50
Swarm	Saturation attack	20-unit DRDO swarm
Counter-UAV	Jammers/Interception	Laser-based D4

The training in the drone valleys of Rajasthan deals with EW-hardened operations, night strikes and autonomous targeting with AI.

Strategic Situ and Implementation.

The gap between conventional infantry and small elite Para SF is filled by Bhairav, which decongests spec-ops, to perform strategic operations, and 15 battalions help protect Rajasthan, Ladakh, Jammu and Northeast, with an additional 10 planned by 2027. Rudra Brigades enhance distance through armour, artillery and UAVs operating under one command.

The recent LAC confrontations revealed the drone gaps against the Wing Loong II in China- Bhairav offers the superiority of the local swarm. There is the same threat of disruption to the Burraq operations in Pakistan.

Technology Foundations and Training Intensity.

Chosen through 72-hour selection selection, Bhairav commandos have a load of 20kg less than the usual 1200kg infant minimum. Exoskeletons, night-vision goggles, SATCOM and battle management systems connecting drone feeds to BrahMos/Nag missiles are considered gear.

Intensive training since raising included lessons gained in Ukraine, Nagorno-Karabakh and Kargil, five months. Drone-armor sync is to be presented in 2026 Army Day Parade in Jaipur, its public debut.

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One of the components of Modernization Wave by Army.

Bhairav is the supporter of greater reforms:

• Artillery Rationalization: 140 regiments of loitering munitions.
• Rudra Brigades: Multiprovincial integrated formations of strikes.
• Mec Infantry: UGV/Drone platoons in each battalion.
• Armored Corps: Artificial intelligence-based target detection.

10,000+ acquisitions each year of drones (fueled by 25,000 crore allocation) aim to 80 percent indigenization, Nagastra (iDEX startups) variants of SkyStriker are offered.

Future Warfare Doctrine

Bhairav veers are praised by commanders as fight-tonight force – able to deploy within 6 hours to 72 hours. CO 2 Battalion, Bhairav Battalion accentuated: The war of the modern is not a war of mass.

India could have as many as 50 battalions and 2 lakh drone warriors presented in the multi-domain vanguard by 2030, selling the expertise to other QUAD partners. Bhairav does not substitute soldiers they are increased by fearless innovation.