India in advanced stage of talks with US for procuring MQ-9B drones

India is in an "advanced stage" of negotiations with the US to procure 30 MQ-9B Predator armed drones for over USD 3 billion to crank up its surveillance apparatus along the frontier with China as well as in the Indian Ocean region, people familiar with the developments said on Sunday. 

The MQ-9B drone is a variant of the MQ-9 "Reaper" which was used to launch a modified version of the Hellfire missile that eliminated al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri in the heart of Kabul last month.

Authoritative sources in the defence establishment said talks between New Delhi and Washington are underway for the government-to-government procurement of the General Atomics-built drones, and rejected reports that the deal is off the table.

Dr Vivek Lall, the Chief Executive for the General Atomics Global Corporation, told PTI that the acquisition programme is at an advanced stage of discussions between the two governments.

“We understand that the MQ-9B acquisition programme is at an advanced stage of discussion between the US and Indian governments,” he said.

“Any questions on those discussions should be addressed specifically to the respective governments. From a company perspective, General Atomics is ready to support India and values our longtime relationship,” Lall added.

The high-altitude long-endurance (HALE) drones are capable of remaining airborne for over 35 hours and can carry four Hellfire missiles and around 450 kgs of bombs.

The MQ-9B has two variants SkyGuardian and its sibling SeaGuardian.In 2020, the Indian Navy had taken on lease two MQ-9B Sea Guardian drones from General Atomics for one year for surveillance in the Indian Ocean. The lease period has been extended subsequently.

The Indian Navy has been bolstering its surveillance mechanism to monitor growing Chinese activities including frequent forays by PLA warships in the Indian Ocean Region.

Indian armed forces have been focusing on procuring unmanned platforms, including armed drones, in the backdrop of the eastern Ladakh border standoff with China and for tracking movements of Chinese warships in the Indian Ocean region.

The procurement proposal has been moved by the Indian Navy and all three services are likely to get 10 drones each.The drone is the first hunter-killer unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) designed for long-endurance and high-altitude surveillance.

The MQ-9B has signals intelligence and communications intelligence systems integrated onboard, but it can take any number of other custom sensors as necessary.

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