Military drone security framework in final consultations, expected by year-end

India's long-awaited framework for testing security vulnerabilities in military drones is in its final round of inter-ministerial consultations, including with the Ministry of Home Affairs and the civil aviation ministry, and is expected within a month or two, with year-end as the outer limit, Director General of Acquisition A Anbarasu told BusinessLine. The Army Design Bureau-authored framework will audit security vulnerabilities in aerial platforms acquired by the defence forces. It was first published in March 2025, after a BusinessLine investigation in August 2024 highlighted concerns over Chinese spares and components slipping into UAVs up for acquisition. The revised draft, incorporating industry and government feedback, was resubmitted to the Ministry of Defence more than three months ago. The urgency stems from the scale of ongoing drone procurement by the defence forces, spanning intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance to kamikaze strike roles.

DTT summary based on BusinessLine's report. The full article is on the publisher's site.