Fact-Check: Did India cancel 3 contracts of buying 400 drones due to their downgrade performances? Here’s the reality

A pak-based handle took to social media platform X(formerly Twitter) and claimed that India had canceled 3 contracts of buying 400 drones due to their downgrade performance against Pakistan and China’s EW.

An X handle named Tactical Tribune posted an image and claimed: “India has canceled 3 contracts of buying 400 drones due to their downgrade performance against Pakistan and China’s EW”

Fact-Check

The DFRAC team investigated this claim and found it to be false.
We conducted a keyword search on Google related to the above-shared claim and found some latest reports from Livemint, India.com, Times Of India, and Defense Mirror.

As per reports, the Defence Ministry of India has canceled three major contracts for the procurement of 400 logistics drones. The contracts were rejected due to security concerns as Chinese electronic components were used in the Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs). These components posed potential cybersecurity risks to Indian military operations.

Furthermore, the reports mentioned a statement by the sources that statement read: “Unfortunately, some Indian companies are using Chinese components and electronics in the drones they are producing for the armed forces. This is a major cybersecurity threat, with the possibility of data security and operations being compromised”.

Apparently, the reason behind the cancellation of contracts is completely different from the above-shared claim that has not been cited in any latest report.

Conclusion

It is evident from DFRAC’s fact-check that the claim made by pak-handle is completely misleading since the cancellation of contracts occurred due to cybersecurity concerns, and not due to the downgrade performances of the drones.

Analysis: Misleading