India prohibits use of Chinese parts in manufacture of military drones: Reports

The government of India has prohibited Indian drone manufacturers from the use of Chinese-made parts in the manufacture of military drones. According ti a Reuters report, the decision came after serious concerns over security vulnerabilities.

The report quoted four defence and industry officials. They said that the country’s security leaders were worried that intelligence-gathering could be compromised by China-made parts in drones’ communication functions, the unmanned aerial vehicle’s cameras, radio transmission and operating software. This move also comes amidst military tensions between India and China which has been going for a long time.

Three of these people and some of the six other government and industry figures interviewed by Reuters spoke on the condition of anonymity as they were not authorised to talk to the media or because of the topic’s sensitivity.

The report suggests that two meetings were undertaken in February and March to discuss drone tenders in the country where Indian military officials told potential bidders that equipment or subcomponents from “countries sharing land borders with India will not be acceptable for security reasons”. This basically means that any Chinese-made parts being used for manufacturing will not be acceptable.

An Indian defence official told Reuters that the country would need to gear up to accept higher costs to boost domestic manufacturing. “If today I buy equipment from China but I say I want to make it in India, the cost will go up 50%,” he said. “We as a nation need to be ready to help the ecosystem build here,” they said.

Finance Minister, Nirmala Sitaraman in February 2023 had also pledged one-quarter of this fiscal year’s Budget for defence research and development for private industry. Notably, in 2019, the Pentagon had banned buying and using drones and components made in China.