New Delhi | The armed forces will test the capabilities of some of its drones and counter-drone systems during an exercise by the Headquarters Integrated Defence Staff (HQ IDS) in the first week of October, a senior official said on Tuesday.

The exercise will be held somewhere in Madhya Pradesh from October 6-10, sources said.

In his address at a conference on air defence systems here, Air Marshal Rakesh Sinha, Deputy Chief of Integrated Defence Staff (OPS) at HQ IDS, also spoke of the lessons drawn from Operation Sindoor and the need to "stay ahead" of the adversary in military thinking and planning.

Later, interacting with PTI on the sidelines of the event, he said 'Exercise Cold Star' will be held in the Central Sector and will see participation of all three services.

Besides, industry partners, research and development partners, academia and others will be taking part in the upcoming exercise.

"We will be testing some of our drones and counter-drone systems during this exercise... with an aim to have an air defence system and a counter-UAS (unmanned aircraft systems) that is more robust," Air Marshal Sinha said.