A Dhaksha DH-Logigator logistics drone. (Photo: Dhaksha Drones)
New Delhi: The Indian Army has paused its plans to buy 200 logistics drones from Dhaksha Unmanned Systems, a company based in Chennai. This decision, which the Army took recently, comes after claims that the company is using Chinese parts in their drones.
Media reports quoting Army sources said the service has stopped the purchase because of concerns about the drones containing Chinese parts. This action was taken based on information from security agencies.
In August 2023, Dhaksha had announced they had won a contract to supply these drones to the Indian Army. In a news release, at that time, the company had said they were the only ones in India to get official approval from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) for three types of drones used in farming and surveillance.
In the release, the company had said: “The company has a technology collaboration with Anna University and is the only player in the country to receive type certificates from DGCA for three drone models in medium and small categories for agriculture and surveillance applications.”
Dhaksha drones are also used in the agriculture sector, in which the unmanned vehicles are used to spray fertilizer and pesticide on crops.
In June this, the defence ministry warned industry groups, like the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (Assocham), Confederation of Indian Industries’ Society of Indian Defence Manufacturers (CII-SDIM), and the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (Ficci), to be careful when buying defence-related items from Dhaksha and two other companies.
However, Dhaksha said the claims about Chinese parts are unfounded. They said they use drone parts from only Indian companies. The company also said they have furnished all required information about their parts to the defence ministry.
The Indian armed forces have had rules since 2010 against using Chinese parts in security equipment. These rules say that important hardware and software must not be from China due to security risks. Even for less critical items, manufacturers should use non-Chinese parts and test them for hidden malware.
The military has not just put a ban on defence-related items that have Chinese parts, but defence officials have also said they won’t accept equipment or parts from any country that shares a land border with India. They said they are concerned about the possibility of Chinese drones or drones with China-made parts, like their sensors and controllers, might send real-time data and location to servers in China, which could be a security threat to India.
