Hyderabad, November 1: The Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Technology Innovation Hub on Autonomous Navigation (TiHAN) at IIT Hyderabad to train its officers on drones and anti-drone systems and to build long-term expertise against asymmetric aerial threats to critical infrastructure. The agreement was signed at the IIT Hyderabad campus on October 31 by Harpreet Kaur Sohi, Inspector General and Director of the National Industrial Security Academy (NISA), and Prof. (Dr.) Rajlakshmi P., Project Director, TiHAN.
Source: UrbanAcres (CISF announcement)
Under the agreement, Assistant Commandant probationers and Sub-Inspector trainees at NISA will attend short-duration capsule courses at TiHAN, with hands-on exposure to drone assembly, flight operations and research into advanced autonomous systems through TiHAN's laboratories.
TiHAN will also provide academic and technical support to the CISF's planned Centre of Excellence for Drone and Anti-Drone Technology at the force's Recruit Training Centre in Behror, Rajasthan. The centre is expected to help the force develop expertise in identifying, assessing and responding to risks posed by unmanned aerial systems.
Source: Rights Media Society
Part of a wider shift in how the CISF guards vital sites
The pact comes as the CISF moves from a traditional territorial model towards dedicated, sector-specific commands covering critical infrastructure sectors including power, petroleum, coal and ports. Sohi said the MoU would increase specialisation within the force and support the new functional sector pattern of supervision, adding that integrating academic research into CISF training would help personnel develop technical expertise alongside their existing responsibilities for guarding vital assets.
The IIT Hyderabad partnership is part of a broader CISF effort to work with academic and technology institutions: the force has also signed MoUs with IIT Kanpur for cybersecurity and anti-drone capabilities, IIT Ropar for a cybersecurity cadre focused on aviation infrastructure, the National e-Governance Division for training in artificial intelligence, drone technology and cybersecurity, KIIT for cyber defence training, and the Indian Maritime University for port and maritime security capacity building, according to the announcement, which was also reported by the Deccan Chronicle and The Times of India.
The announcement did not specify the course schedule, the Behror centre's commissioning date or the technologies to be deployed at protected sites; the immediate steps are the specialised training of NISA probationers and trainees and TiHAN's technical support for the proposed centre.