India and US are in talks for New Delhi to buy 31 MQ-9B Sky Guardian and Sea Guardian drones
Washington:
India and the US right this moment firmed up multi-billion greenback drone deal as PM Modi met Joe Biden on the primary day of his three-day go to to the US. PM Modi held bilateral talks with US President Joe Biden and the 2 leaders mentioned a spread of points to additional strengthen India-US ties.
The drone deal was additionally mentioned intimately by each leaders.
India is within the strategy of procuring 31 MQ-9B Sky Guardian and Sea Guardian drones from the US. The associated fee to accumulate these drones is sort of $3 billion. India goals to intensify the surveillance equipment of the armed forces, particularly alongside the frontier with China.
The talks for this deal have been on for properly over a yr now. In June final yr, the Defence Ministry accepted the procurement of the MQ-9B Sky Guardian and Sea Guardian armed drones with air-to-surface missiles and laser-guided bombs from the US beneath a government-to-government framework.
Other than buying the drones, the Indian Navy can also be seeking to conclude two different main defence offers this monetary yr – 3 extra Scorpene submarines and 26 Rafale-M fighter plane.
THE MQ-9B SKY GUARDIAN AND SEA GUARDIAN DRONES
The MQ-9B drone is a high-altitude long-endurance remotely-piloted unmanned plane manufactures and bought by US defence agency Normal Atomics. It’s recognized for delivering persistent intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR).
It’s designed to fly over the horizon by way of satellite tv for pc for as much as 40+ hours in all sorts of climate and safely combine into civil airspace, enabling joint forces and civil authorities to ship real-time situational consciousness wherever on the earth—day or evening.
In keeping with Normal Atomics, the drone might be configured to conduct plenty of ISR operations, together with however not restricted to:
- Humanitarian Help/Catastrophe Aid
- Search and Rescue
- Maritime area consciousness
- Anti-surface warfare
- Anti-submarine warfare
- Airborne mine countermeasures
- Airborne early warning
- Digital warfare
- Lengthy-range strategic ISR
- Over-the-horizon concentrating on
The Predator drone has a formidable and confirmed file in West Asia in addition to in Afghanistan. It’s valued for its precision bombing capabilities and eliminating high-value targets.
The Predator drone is a variant of the MQ-9 “Reaper”, which was used to launch a modified model of the Hellfire missile that killed Al Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahiri within the coronary heart of Kabul in July 2022.
INDIAN ARMED FORCES – WHO GETS WHAT
The 31 drones that will likely be bought from Normal Atomics will likely be divided between the Indian Navy, Indian Air Power and Indian Military. 16 of the MQ-9B drones will likely be allotted to the Indian Navy to extend its surveillance within the Indian Ocean area, eight will likely be given to the Indian Military to be used alongside the Line of Precise Management with China and Line of Management with Pakistan, and the remaining eight will likely be assigned to the Indian Air Power for precision, focused missions throughout borders.
The drone deal have to be agreed upon and signed by each India and the US earlier than October 31, 2024, after which the roughly $3 billion value will likely be up for revision on a part of the producer – Normal Atomics, as per talks between each governments.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and his delegation was given an in depth transient on the aptitude and different specifics of the drone throughout his official go to to the US in August.
With PM Modi visiting the US, each nations will prioritise the deal and need to make progress earlier than the October 31 date lapses.