Comments from four Indian defense and industry officials, as well as documents reviewed by Reuters, show that in recent months, India has banned domestic military drone manufacturers from using components from China due to concerns over security vulnerabilities.
The timing of India's ban is intriguing. On one hand, relations between India and China, two nuclear-armed nations, are in a state of tension. On the other hand, India is pushing forward with military modernization, planning to make more use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), long-endurance systems, and other autonomous platforms, such as Tapas.
As India's emerging drone industry seeks to meet the military's needs, the aforementioned defense and industry personnel express concerns that intelligence gathering efforts could be compromised by Chinese-manufactured components like drone communication functions, cameras, radio transmission, and operational software.
Documents obtained by Reuters reveal that at two meetings discussing drone tenders held in February and March this year, Indian military officials told potential bidders that for security reasons, equipment or parts from countries with border disputes with India would not be accepted. This move supplements the phased import restrictions on drones that have been in place since 2020.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been seeking to build India's drone capabilities to counter perceived threats. India has set aside a budget of 1.6 trillion rupees ($19.77 billion) for military modernization for 2023-2024, with 75% allocated for domestic industry.
NewSpace Research and Technologies, based in Bangalore, a supplier of small drones to the Indian military, notes that 70% of the products in India's drone supply chain are made in China. The ban on Chinese components has forced manufacturers to procure parts from elsewhere, thereby increasing the cost of manufacturing military drones in India.
Joshi states that switching to non-Chinese manufactured components has significantly increased costs. Some manufacturers continue to import raw materials from China, but rebrand them with "white labels" to keep costs within a certain range. It's likely that parts offered by suppliers from countries like Poland could still originate from China.
Due to the lack of key technologies for manufacturing certain types of drones, India relies on foreign manufacturers for components and entire systems. Drone engines represent one of the biggest challenges for India's drone technology; most domestically produced engines are not up to the task required by the drones.
Y. Dilip, director of India's Aeronautical Development Establishment (ADE), mentions that a government-funded project for a domestic medium-altitude, long-endurance unmanned system has been delayed by at least five years. The project requires drones to reach combat altitudes of 30,000 feet and stay in the air for 24 hours.
Although India's indigenous unmanned platform Tapas has met most requirements, further work is needed to achieve the military's objectives. In addition to Tapas, which is expected to begin testing this month, the ADE is working on stealth and high-altitude, long-endurance platforms, though these require several years to develop.
To fill the gap in its defense system, India announced in June that it would purchase 31 MQ-9 drones (Reaper drones) from the United States for more than $3 billion.
India's Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has promised that a quarter of this year's 232.6 billion rupee ($2.83 billion) defense R&D budget will go to private enterprises. However, due to long delivery cycles and the possibility of not securing orders, large private firms in India seldom invest in military R&D.
Against this backdrop, R.K. Narang, a drone expert at India's Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses, stresses the need for a coherent national strategy to bridge the technological gap and provide commercially viable products. India must accept higher costs to boost domestic manufacturing.
