The deal, signed within the presence of high defence and strategic brass of India within the nationwide capital, marks a big upswing in army ties between the 2 international locations, officers instructed PTI.
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Image posted on X by @GenAtomics_ASI
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India on Tuesday inked a mega deal with the US to acquire 31 Predator long-endurance drones from American defence main General Atomics underneath the international army gross sales route at a price of almost USD 4 billion to spice up the Indian army’s fight prowess alongside the contested borders with China.
The deal, signed within the presence of high defence and strategic brass of India within the nationwide capital, marks a big upswing in army ties between the 2 international locations, officers instructed PTI.
The procurement of the drones was finalised simply weeks forward of the US presidential elections. Last week, the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi cleared the procurement of the MQ-9B ‘hunter-killer’ drones.
Vivek Lall, the Chief Executive of General Atomics Global Corporation who performed a key function within the negotiations on the deal, was current on the signing ceremony.
The drones are being procured at an estimated price of round USD 4 billion, officers stated. India is buying drones primarily to crank up the surveillance equipment of the armed forces, particularly alongside the contested frontier with China.
In June final 12 months, the Defence Ministry authorised the procurement of the MQ-9B Predator armed drones from the US underneath a government-to-government framework.
The MQ-9B drone is a variant of the MQ-9 “Reaper” which was used to launch a modified model of the Hellfire missile that eradicated al-Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahiri within the coronary heart of Kabul in July 2022. While the Navy will get 15 Sea Guardian drones, the Indian Air Force and the Army will every get eight Sky Guardian drones.
The high-altitude long-endurance drones are able to remaining airborne for over 35 hours and may carry 4 Hellfire missiles and round 450 kgs of bombs. The Sea Guardian drones are being procured as they will perform quite a lot of roles, together with maritime surveillance, anti-submarine warfare, and over-the-horizon focusing on amongst others.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by DNA workers and is revealed from PTI)
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