The Ministry of Defence on Monday inked a Rs 1,943-crore contract with American defence major General Atomics Aeronautical to lease two MQ-9B Sea Guardian High-Altitude Long-Endurance (HALE) Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems (RPAS) for the Indian Navy for 30 months.

In a statement, the Defence ministry said the contract was signed in the presence of A Anbarasu, Additional Secretary and Director General (Acquisition), Department of Defence. It said the MQ-9B Sea Guardian HALE RPAS, equipped with advanced systems, state-of-the-art sensors and sophisticated payloads, will significantly enhance the Indian Navy’s Maritime Domain Awareness capabilities.

“The systems will provide persistent intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance coverage over vast areas of the maritime domain, strengthening India’s ability to monitor and respond to developments across the Indian Ocean Region,” it added.

In December last year, the Ministry of Defence approved the leasing of HALE RPAS for the Navy. Currently, the Navy operates two MQ9As on lease, which were procured in 2020 in the thick of border tensions between India and China for a period of one year, and their lease period was subsequently extended.

With the addition of two new high-altitude long-endurance systems, the Navy’s inventory will increase to four units. This expansion will provide a greater operational coverage for the Navy in both the eastern and western regions. Until now, the limited number of just two HALE RPAS restricted simultaneous coverage of both fronts.

It is learnt that while the lease of the existing RPAS will expire after a certain period, the leases of the two new RPAS will continue until deliveries of the 31 MQ-9B HALE RPAS begin. It is further learnt that the new RPAS will have almost the same configuration as the 31 MQ-9Bs which are being procured, as against the existing HALE RPAS.

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In 2024, India and the United States inked a deal of around $3.5 billion or over Rs 28,000 crore to procure 31 MQ-9B HALE RPAS for the Indian armed forces. Apart from ISR roles, they can also carry out precision strikes on strategic targets in mountains and the maritime domain during long-endurance missions.

A global MRO facility will be set up in India under contract with General Atomics to assemble some of the MQ-9Bs in India to support India’s long-term goals to boost indigenous defence capabilities. A certain percentage of the components for the drones will be sourced indigenously.