Skye Air CEO to Centre: ‘Don’t wait for the next disaster. Track every drone our airspace is vulnerable’

From Ukraine’s long-range attacks on Russia to Israel’s covert strikes deep inside Iran, drones are now part of the modern conflict playbook. The fear is that these tactics could easily be copied in other parts of the world, including India.

Former Army Chief General MM Naravane recently flagged this concern, calling for stricter checks on who makes drones, where they’re used, and by whom. He even recommended creating ‘no-fly zones’ around key defence sites.

Ankit Kumar, CEO and Founder of drone delivery startup Skye Air, agrees with Naravane. In an exclusive conversation with Business Today Digital, he talks about the gaps in India’s current drone tracking framework, and why real-time visibility is essential.

Edited excerpts

In light of rising threats, former Army Chief General MM Naravane has called for tracking every drone manufacturer and end user. What is your view?

The concerns raised by General Naravane are extremely relevant and reflect the reality we are facing today. With the increasing number of drones taking to Indian skies, there is a growing and urgent need for a robust system that can ensure both airspace safety and national security. At present, we lack a real-time mechanism to answer some very basic but critical questions; how many drones are airborne at a given time, how many of them have regulatory approvals, who is flying them, and for what purpose. Unfortunately, these details often come to light only when a violation has already occurred.

We have been in active dialogue with the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MCA) and have made several presentations for the implementation of Unmanned Traffic Management (UTM) systems. A UTM system, when integrated with real-time drone tracking, can form the foundational infrastructure to ensure drone operations are safe, legal, and transparent. The government’s introduction of the National UTM Policy Framework in November 2021 was a welcome move, but since then, progress has been slow. The primary reason for this is that UTM compliance is still voluntary. As a result, the implementation varies significantly from one operator to another, leaving our airspace vulnerable.

Airspace security cannot be left to chance. Authorities must have clear visibility into who is flying a drone, what type of drone is being used, where it is flying, why it is flying, and whether the operator has the necessary credentials and regulatory approvals. This level of accountability is only possible if all drones are equipped with Remote ID technology and if every drone flight is conducted through a certified and standardized UTM system.

To achieve this, manufacturers must begin producing drones that come equipped with real-time tracking capabilities compatible with UTM system. Regulators must move from advisory to enforcement, and make the use of UTM systems and real-time flight plan approvals mandatory across the board. Drone operators must also be required to file their flight plans, declare the specifications of their drone, and receive authorisation before every take-off. The time for optional compliance has passed. If we are to ensure the growth of India’s drone ecosystem while protecting our airspace, then mandatory UTM and real-time tracking must become the norm.

How easy is it for anyone in India to buy and operate drones without getting registered?

In short, yes – it’s very easy to walk into places like Khan Market or Karol Bagh in Delhi and buy a drone, often with no questions asked. You can keep operating until caught, and then it’s a whole different story. People should avoid such routes of purchase and should at no time operate without approvals.

So are we waiting for the next disaster because anyone can just assemble and operate them?

Absolutely. That’s precisely the concern we have consistently raised with regulators; let’s not wait for the next incident to act. The airspace above us must not remain unregulated, especially when access to drones is this easy. Today, anyone can buy a drone off the shelf in places like Khan Market or Karol Bagh. You can pick up a DJI drone, fully automated, GPS-enabled, and high-performance and bring it home, and start flying it the very same day. No registration. No flight plan. No approvals. It’s only when you are caught by the police and that’s in maybe 1–2% of cases that any accountability kicks in. The remaining 98%? They are flying freely, completely off the radar.

We conducted a market study last year focused on drone operators working in the wedding and filmography industry. We reached out to hundreds of professionals across the Delhi-NCR region, and the findings were deeply concerning. More than 60 to 65 per cent of the drone operators we spoke to had no awareness of existing drone regulations. Most of the drones being used were unregistered on the Digital Sky platform, lacked UIN numbers, and were being flown in clear violation of the Drone Rules.

During our interactions, we asked them questions like whether they had permission to fly, whether their drone was registered, and whether they knew where they were legally allowed to operate. The responses were alarming. Many simply said, ‘Nobody told us we had to take permission’. Some claimed, ‘We got a verbal okay from the local police.’

These point to a glaring gap in awareness and accountability within a segment that is growing rapidly but remains largely unregulated. But the police are not the authority for granting airspace permissions – the Civil Aviation Authority is. And flying in red zones – like farmhouses near Bijwasan (close to the airport) or major hotels like Ashoka, Taj, ITC – is strictly prohibited without clearance from the Ministry, especially if the drone carries a camera. Many of these areas are under restricted airspace due to proximity to defence or airport zones, yet drones are being flown there during weddings.

This kind of casual, uninformed usage is a national security threat. And unless UTM systems and real-time tracking are made mandatory, we are indeed waiting for the next disaster. It’s time for proactive enforcement, not reactive damage control. Every drone in the sky must be trackable. Every operator must be accountable. Anything less is a risk India can’t afford.

Are we moving in that direction? Do you see any movement on the UTM proposal? 

Two IndiGo pilots recently reported spotting drones dangerously close to Kempegowda International Airport (BLR) near Bangalore. The incident made national headlines. This prompted the Ministry of Civil Aviation to immediately request presentations for better drone management systems. However, after making presentations around Skye UTM, which included real-time tracking, geofencing, airspace monitoring, and integration access for ATC, police, and regulators, momentum has since slowed down. The initial urgency was clear, but follow-through has been quieter.

The urgency for implementing Skye UTM cannot be overstated. It offers real-time visibility by enabling regulators to track each drone’s geolocation and flight path live, allowing immediate detection of any deviations. It also provides automated enforcement triggers-for instance, if ten drones are authorised to operate in a specific zone but twelve are detected, the system instantly flags the discrepancy, activating counter-drone protocols. With its dashboards accessible to Air Traffic Control, Civil Aviation authorities, and local enforcement agencies, UTM enhances safety and security by making unauthorised drones immediately visible and actionable.

As the recent incident near Bengaluru Airport highlighted, anyone can fly a drone into a restricted area unless proactive systems like UTM are in place to detect and prevent such breaches. Counter-drone technologies serve a purpose, particularly in border security. But they are ineffective in urban environments without knowing who is flying what, when, and why.

Skye UTM addresses this gap by offering verified, real-time operational data. It also facilitates coordination by ensuring that multiple operators sharing the same airspace do so through a unified system. Several pilot programs are already underway, including successful rollouts in Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand using Skye Air’s UTM platform. However, the primary bottleneck lies in the gap between policy and execution.

The UTM Policy released in Oct 2021 clearly defined timelines, responsibilities, and even called for RFPs for certified UTM Service Providers (UTMSPs). However, actual deployment and mandatory enforcement remain incomplete. Adoption so far has been mostly voluntary, and only a handful of states are conducting limited pilots. A mandated compliance framework for real-time tracking and coordinated drone operations is still pending – and urgently needed.