New Delhi: In addition to the much-awaited deal for jet engine technology, India and the US will also sign a whopping $3 billion deal for outright purchase of 30 MQ-9 Reaper or Predator B drones, ThePrint has learnt.
Sources in the defence and security establishment said that Defence Minister Rajnath Singh led Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) cleared the mega deal Thursday.
The procurement file moved by the Indian Navy will now go through a bureaucratic process, which is mainly approval from the Cabinet Committee on Security, before Modi leaves for Washington next week.
As reported by the Print in September 2021, the three Services had finally come around to agreeing to go in for the drone deal, which is a tri-service acquisition but is being led by the Navy.
The Reaper comes with nine hard-points, capable of carrying sensors and laser-guided bombs besides air-to-ground missiles. It has an endurance of over 27 hours and can operate up to 50,000 ft with a 3,850 pound (1,746 kg payload capacity that includes 3,000 pounds (1,361 kg) of external stores.
It is capable of carrying multiple mission payloads to include Electro-optical/Infrared (EO/IR), Lynx, Multi-mode Radar, multi-mode maritime surveillance radar, Electronic Support Measures (ESM), laser designators, and various weapons and payload packages.
As per the plan, the Navy, which already operates two unarmed versions of drone — Sea Guardian — on lease, will get the majority share of the pie while the Army and the Air Force will get slightly lower numbers.
The erstwhile Trump administration had expected the deal for 30 armed drones to be announced at the two-plus-two ministerial dialogue in New Delhi on 27 October 2020. However, India did not succumb to the hard American push to seal the deal then.
India wanted American manufacturing firm General Atomics to set up a regional maintenance repair and overhaul facility in India for the drones.
Sources in the defence establishment said that this was a deal that the Americans were very keen for and that India bargained on multiple fronts before agreeing to this deal.
It was in 2018 that the US had offered India the armed version of the Guardian drones, which were originally authourised for sale as unarmed and for surveillance.
India was earlier eyeing both the unarmed Sea Guardian drones for the Navy and the armed Predator B for attack options, but many within the defence and security establishment felt that both operations can be done by one type only.
This was because of the prohibitive price involving American drones. The Navy had initially planned for 22 Sea Guardians which were priced at over $2 billion, but then brought down the number to just 12.
However, since all the three services wanted weaponised drones, a decision was taken to jointly pursue the deal.
The Reaper has been acquired by the U.S. Air Force, U.S. Department of Homeland Security, NASA, the Royal Air Force, the Italian Air Force, the French Air Force and the Spanish Air Force.
(Edited by Tony Rai)