India to Place First Order for US Armed Drones to Boost Defense

Sudhi Ranjan Sen
·2 min read
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(Bloomberg) -- India has cleared the purchase of thirty armed drones from the US — its first ever — to boost its sea and land defenses as tensions with neighboring China and Pakistan persist, according to people with knowledge of the matter.

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The decision to clear the acquisition of the MQ-9B Predator drones was made by India’s Defence Acquisition Council Thursday. It comes ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the US next week, where the two sides are also expected to agree to jointly manufacture jet engines in the South Asian nation. Modi’s government is in the midst of a 10-year, $250 billion military modernization effort.

The purchase will put India in an elite club of some three dozen countries using combat-capable drones. The acquisition agreement with the San Diego-based General Atomics had been mired in bureaucratic red-tape for years.

Thursday’s decision will be followed by comprehensive discussions on the pricing of the drones and other details, including the expected time-lines, the people said.

India’s Ministry of Defense didn’t immediately respond to a request seeking comment. Vivek Lall, the chief executive of General Atomics, declined to comment.

India is emerging as a strategic defense partner for Washington, especially as it seeks to counter increasing Chinese influence in the Indo-Pacific. The US is also seeking closer military cooperation with New Delhi to wean it away from its dependence on Russian military hardware as Moscow’s assault on Ukraine enters its second year.

New Delhi hired two drones from the US when the current round of border tensions first flared with Beijing in the summer of 2020, but the platforms came without the weapons and were used only for surveillance and reconnaissance.

The MQ-9B drones can fly for about 48 hours and carry a payload of about 1,700 kilograms (3,748 pounds). They will give India’s navy the ability to better monitor Chinese warships in the southern Indian Ocean, and equip the air force and army to engage targets along the disputed India-Pakistan border in the Himalayas.

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