NEW DELHI — India in recent months has barred domestic manufacturers of military drones from using components made in China over concerns about security vulnerabilities, according to four defense and industry officials and documents reviewed by Reuters. The U.S. Congress in 2019 banned the Pentagon from buying or using drones and components made in China. But the ban on Chinese parts has raised the cost of making military drones locally by forcing manufacturers to source components elsewhere, government and industry experts said. Sameer Joshi, founder of Bengaluru-based NewSpace Research and Technologies, a supplier of small drones for India’s military, said 70% of goods in the supply chain were made in China. To fill these gaps, India announced in June that it would buy 31 MQ-9 drones from the U.S. for over $3 billion.
