https://www.tribuneindia.com/videos/india-leases-2-more-predator-drones-from-us-for-navy

The Ministry of Defence on Monday inked a contract with US company General Atomics for leasing of two additional long range surveillance UAV’s, named the Predator, to be used by the Navy. The Navy has been using two such UAV’s on lease since 2020. The drones from General Atomics are officially called ‘MQ-9B Sea Guardian’ and have ‘high-altitude and long-endurance’ ability to fly upto 40 hours while transmitting to base, real time imagery and videos. The Ministry of Defence said on Monday it signed the lease and its operational contract for a period of 30 months and is valued at approximately Rs 1,943 crore. The MQ-9B Sea Guardian is 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 at sea, strengthening India’s ability to monitor and respond to developments across the Indian Ocean Region, the statement said. Separate from the leasing contracts for the UAV, the Ministry of Defence had, in October 2024, inked a contract with the US Government for procurement of 31 ‘MQ-9B’ UAV’s. India wants the armed version of the drone which will be dual tasked for attack as well as surveillance. The contract is under the Foreign Military Sales route between the two governments. The General Atomics will provide certain types of maintenance, repair and overhaul of these drones will be done in India. The deal will cost $4 billion. The Indian armed forces will start getting the drones over four years, that is from 2028 onwards . The Indian Navy will get 15 of the 31 drones while the Army and the IAF will get eight drones each. The MQ-9B, is adapted for operations over sea and over land. The US armed forces use the same MQ-9B platform and it carries missiles to do precision strikes at targets.