Pakistan's first police drone unit takes flight in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

PESHAWAR: Police in Pakistan’s northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province launched the country's first dedicated drone surveillance division, marking a shift in how law enforcement operates across the nation's most challenging terrain. 

The newly established Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Division formally brings drone technology into the provincial policing system, a milestone that security officials say will transform the fight against terrorism and crime in the region.

Speaking to Pakistan TV Digital, Head of Operations KP Police AIG Muhammad Ali Babakhel confirmed that the unit was formed to address longstanding gaps in surveillance coverage across KP's vast and often inaccessible mountainous districts. 

Ground-based monitoring has historically struggled to keep pace with terrorists' movements and criminal activity in remote areas, a gap that aerial drones are now designed to fill.

The division will also play a key role in monitoring sensitive locations, public gatherings, religious processions, political rallies, protests and demonstrations, and situations where ground-level visibility can be limited.

In such settings, drone visual coverage is expected to give security forces a clearer picture of ground conditions and help maintain law and order more effectively.

Effective in counterterrorism

The UAV Division will be particularly significant for counterterrorism operations. 

The province, which borders Afghanistan and has for decades faced persistent security challenges from terrorist groups, has long required more sophisticated surveillance capabilities. 

The banned terror group, Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan, has increasingly turned to commercially available drones to carry out surveillance and attacks against security personnel and installations.

The militant group's use of commercial drone technology has posed a serious challenge to conventional defenses. 

The new division is designed to close that gap through dedicated anti-drone technology that forms a core component of the unit. 

Multi-use drones

Multiple districts in the province will be supplied with these anti-drone guns to neutralize terrorists' UAVs in the sky. This counter-UAV capability will allow law enforcement to detect, track, and neutralize hostile drones while also extracting information from them. 

Among the unit's arsenal are the DJI Mavic 3, a powerful reconnaissance drone offering a 15-kilometer transmission range.

Alongside it sits the DJI Matrice 350, an industrial-grade UAV built for demanding environments, offering a 55-minute flight time and the ability to carry multiple sensor payloads simultaneously, including thermal and zoom cameras. 

But the most significant addition to the fleet is a custom-designed hexacopter.

Built to meet the specific operational demands of the province's rugged terrain and security environment, the six-rotor aircraft is engineered to carry and deploy mortars, explosives, and smoke and tear grenades, giving KP Police an offensive and crowd-control aerial capability that is entirely unprecedented in Pakistani law enforcement.

According to AIG Muhammad Ali Babakhel, a key component of the initiative is its emphasis on building human capacity and capabilities. 

A dedicated corps of officers has undergone formal training in drone operation, aerial data analysis, and equipment maintenance. These specialists will be distributed across KP's districts. 

Also in focus is an Innovation Center planned at the Police Training Center to build custom-designed drones and anti-drone weaponry. 

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has become Pakistan's first province to formally integrate drone surveillance into its police structure. 

Security analysts say the move is likely to set a precedent; if the unit proves effective, other provinces are expected to follow suit, triggering a nationwide modernization of law enforcement that could reshape public safety across Pakistan.

For a province long facing terrorism and having a difficult geography, the launch of Pakistan's first police drone unit represents a commitment to staying ahead of the threats that continue to challenge peace and stability in one of the country's most consequential regions.