India Navy to Lease Two MQ-9B Sea Guardian Drones

Key facts

• The Ministry of Defence signed a Rs 1,943-crore contract with American defence major General Atomics to lease two MQ-9B Sea Guardian High-Altitude Long-Endurance (HALE) Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems (RPAS) for the Indian Navy.
• The lease contract is for a period of 30 months.
• The new MQ-9B Sea Guardian drones will enhance the Indian Navy's Maritime Domain Awareness capabilities, providing persistent intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance coverage over the Indian Ocean Region.
• The Indian Navy currently operates two MQ9A drones on lease since 2020; with the two new additions, its HALE RPAS inventory will increase to four units.
• The two newly leased drones will have almost the same configuration as the 31 MQ-9B HALE systems procured under a $3.5 billion deal with the United States in 2024.
• Under the 2024 procurement, a global MRO facility will be set up in India by General Atomics to assemble some MQ-9Bs in India, with a percentage of components sourced indigenously.