Where Combat Drones Are Operated

Ahead of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to the United States, Washington has urged the country to overcome bureaucratic hurdles in a planned deal for large armed drones. The contract would be worth $2 billion to $3 billion, according to Livemint.

Data from the website Drone Wars shows that India is in the process of developing its own large armed drones and is seeking to acquire technology from the U.S. in the MALE and HALE (high altitude, long endurance) categories, with no specific program start date set yet.

Operating armed medium altitude, long endurance (MALE) drones is becoming increasingly common for militaries in Europe, Asia, the Middle East and Northern Africa. Early adopters of the technology were the United States and the United Kingdom (both using U.S. technology) as well as Israel and China (using their own technologies) between 2001 and 2011.

China's early adoption subsequently led to heavy exports of MALE drones to countries in Asia, the Middle East and Africa in between 2014 and 2018, including to Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Algeria and Pakistan. In the same time period, Iran and Turkey developed their own capabilities. Turkey's technological push led to more exports between 2019 and 2022, this time with a heavier focus on Africa. France was only the second country to receive U.S. MALE drones in 2019. Other countries and territories except India wanting to arm U.S. drones in the future are the Netherlands and Italy, while Taiwan has already signed such a contract.