What Are LoRa Radio Sets? Lashkar-e-Taiba Terrorists Found Using This Tech In Kashmir To Evade Mobile Networks

Terrorists in J&K have long used radio sets paired with phones to stay off the grid, and LoRa sets are the latest step in that cat-and-mouse contest. The radio technology has come into focus once again after reports this week that security forces in Jammu and Kashmir have recovered LoRa sets from Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terrorists. This includes the aftermath of Operation Korag in Budgam, where LeT's Mohammad Asif, alias Hashim Moosa, was killed.

What is LoRa?

LoRa, short for 'Long Range', is a radio technology designed for low-power devices. It carries small packets of data, such as short text messages and GPS coordinates, over several kilometres without any mobile network. Cheap LoRa handsets are sold openly to hikers, farmers and builders of smart-city sensors. Many of them can pass messages from one set to the next, forming a mesh.

How does the technology work?

LoRa was developed by Cycleo, a French start-up from Grenoble. The US chipmaker Semtech acquired the company in 2012 and now owns the trademark. Semtech has licensed the technology to other chip manufacturers.

The technology is a modulation method, meaning a way of encoding data onto radio waves. It is derived from chirp spread spectrum, in which the signal sweeps across a band of frequencies instead of sitting on one. This spreading makes the signal resilient to interference and lets receivers pick up very weak transmissions. The trade-off is speed. LoRa suits short, infrequent packets, such as a sensor reading or a text, and cannot carry voice calls or video.

LoRa operates on licence-free sub-gigahertz bands that vary by region. These include 865-867 MHz in India, 902-928 MHz in North America and the 863-870 MHz range in Europe. Range depends on terrain. Vendor material puts it at up to about 50 km in open rural areas, while forests, hills and buildings cut that sharply.

Where LoRA has been used

LoRa grew up as an industrial and civilian technology. Semtech describes it as the de facto platform for the Internet of Things, with applications in smart cities, utility metering, logistics, buildings and agriculture. In practice, that means:

• Farming: soil and water sensors that report from fields with no mobile coverage.

• Cities and utilities: streetlights, water meters and waste bins that send data back to a central system.

• Tracking and monitoring: assets, cargo and remote industrial equipment, where batteries must last for years.

• Outdoors and emergencies: hiker-to-hiker messaging and community mesh networks that keep working when phone networks do not.

Its appeal is the same in every case: cheap hardware, small batteries and no dependence on a telecom operator.

Why are these making headlines?

Army and other agencies launched Operation Korag in the Yousmarg area this week, acting on specific intelligence. Moosa's body was recovered in the Palmaidan area, according to the Chinar Corps. He was one of three key suspects named in the 2025 Pahalgam attack, in which 26 people were killed. A reward of Rs. 20 lakh had been announced for information leading to his arrest.

Officials quoted in media reports say the LoRa sets recovered came pre-configured and encrypted.

Why it worries security forces

Mobile phones can be traced through towers and SIM cards. A LoRa set sends nothing over the telecom network, so the conventional tools for listening in and tracking do not work on it. The reports say spectrum scanners and jammers are now being tuned to LoRa frequencies.

Officials have said the sets are not completely untraceable. After Operation Mahadev in Pahalgam, two LoRa sets were taken from slain terrorists and sent to the National Technical Research Organisation for examination. Intelligence units can reportedly narrow a signal's origin to a 3-5 km radius, which is hard in dense forest.