India Should Urgently Update its Dual-Use Items’ Export control list to include unmanned systems

Rupal Kalebere is a researcher in defense policy and law, currently serving as a Senior Researcher at the Society for Aerospace, Maritime and Defence Studies
(SAMDeS) and Programming Director at Young Professionals in Foreign Policy (YPFP) Tokyo. She regularly writes on India’s defense developments in both national and international contexts, with a particular focus on the Indo-Pacific. With an academic background in law and public policy, her work explores the evolving intersection of strategic affairs, regulatory frameworks, and global security.

Indo-Pacific Politics interviewed Rupal Kalebere about the recent drone deal in the private sector between India and Taiwan to understand the future strategic potential of India-Taiwan relations.

“While India and Taiwan have no formal diplomatic ties, this deal signals a quiet deepening of strategic trust driven by shared interests in secure supply chains, regional stability, and high-tech innovation.”

Rupal Kalebere

Indo-Pacific Politics (IPP): Why is this drone deal important in the private sector? Does it indicate anything new about India-Taiwan ties?

Rupal Kalebere: The drone deal between India’s Optiemus Unmanned Systems and Taiwan’s AVIX Technologies is significant as it marks the first publicly acknowledged private-sector collaboration on defense-grade subsystems between the two sides. Focused on co-developing and manufacturing advanced gimbals and optical payloads [drone components], the partnership reflects India’s growing private defense capabilities under Aatmanirbhar Bharat. While India and Taiwan have no formal diplomatic ties, this deal signals a quiet deepening of strategic trust driven by shared interests in secure supply chains, regional stability, and high-tech innovation.

IPP: Have there been similar strategic deals between India and Taiwan?

Rupal Kalebere: No, this is the first publicly known private-sector collaboration involving defense hardware between India and Taiwan. Past cooperation has mostly focused on semiconductors, electronics, and education. While Taiwan has shown interest in India’s D4 anti-drone system, there haven’t been any previous joint development or manufacturing deals like the AVIX–OUS partnership.

IPP: What do you expect in the future?

Rupal Kalebere: We’re likely to see deeper India–Taiwan private-sector cooperation in drone technologies, especially in AI, optics, and autonomous systems. Taiwan’s interest in India’s D4 anti-drone platform may advance, and this deal could pave the way for more strategic tech collaborations.

IPP: Is there anything else that you would want to share on this with our readers?

Rupal Kalebere: Yes. As drone technologies evolve, it is important to recognize that most components involved, such as optical payloads, gimbals, sensors, and AI-enabled subsystems have inherent dual-use characteristics. This raises critical concerns regarding classification, end-use identification, and regulatory oversight. In the absence of clear protocols, the distinction between civilian and military application can become opaque.

India must move toward a component-level regulatory framework that incorporates detailed enumeration of dual-use technologies, defines their intended use, and requires mutually endorsed end-use certification in bilateral or multilateral collaborations.

The existing SCOMET (Special Chemicals, Organisms, Materials, Equipment and Technologies) list under India’s export control regime needs to be updated and harmonized with emerging domains such as unmanned systems and AI-driven autonomy. A robust legal structure that balances strategic ambition with accountability is essential, one that ensures technological integrity, export compliance, and long-term sustainability of such partnerships in the Indo-Pacific security environment.

“The existing SCOMET (Special Chemicals, Organisms, Materials, Equipment and Technologies) list under India’s export control regime needs to be updated and harmonized with emerging domains such as unmanned systems and AI-driven autonomy.”

Rupal Kalebere