ISAS Insights

During India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Washington in June 2017, he and the United States (US) President Donald Trump agreed to a ‘deal’, whereby India would purchase 22 Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, also known as drones, from the US. This partly reflects the burgeoning importance this platform is acquiring globally in the sphere of defence and security. This paper examines the drone phenomenon and argues that, given their potentially deadly capabilities, there is a need for an international regime with regard to the manufacture, transfer and use of drones. This issue poses a challenge to the international institutions and leadership.