A little after 8 p.m. on May 8, red flares streaked through the night sky over the northern Indian city of Jammu as its air-defense systems opened fire on drones from neighboring Pakistan.
The Indian and Pakistani militaries have deployed high-end fighter jets, conventional missiles and artillery during decades of clashes, but the four days of fighting in May marked the first time New Delhi and Islamabad utilized unmanned aerial vehicles at scale against each other.
The fighting halted after the U.S. announced it brokered a ceasefire but the South Asian powers, which spent more than $96 billion on defense last year, are now locked in a drones arms race, according to interviews with 15 people, including security officials, industry executives and analysts in the two countries.
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