Indian military calls of purchase of 400 drones due to fears over their Chinese components

India's defense authorities have canceled three contracts with a local company for the supply of 400 unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) for the army due to fears of national security threats relating to their use of Chinese components.

The UAV's were planned to be deployed along the disputed 3,488 kilometer long "Line of Actual Control" border between India and China in the Himalayan region, Caliber.Az reports citing Indian media.

The scrapped contracts that were entered with a Chennai-based company in 2023 oversaw the delivery of 200 medium-altitude, 100  heavy-weight and 100 light-weight logistics drone.

The Times of India cited experts that brought attention to the issue of Indian companies using Chinese components in hardware that is being produced for India's armed forces, labelling this as a major cybersecurity threat.

“An adversary can seize control of a drone or 'soft kill' it through jamming. There may be a 'backdoor' in the electronics that bypasses security protection measures," the source warned. 

By Nazrin Sadigova