India to ink Predator armed drone deal with US before October 31

After the Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) cleared the Predator drone deal on July 30, the Defence Ministry is soon to approach the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) for the much awaited acquisition to be signed next month.

While the Ministry is silent on the process, it is learnt that the Cost Negotiation Committee (CNC) has wrapped up the final price for acquisition worth around USD 3.1 billion from US based General Atomics. The Defence Ministry will now be approaching the Finance Ministry for expenditure approval before getting the final stamp from CCS. The acquisition must be signed before October 31 or else there will be price revision on part of the manufacturer.

The Modi government is purchasing 31 MQ 9B drones with air to surface missiles and laser guided bombs from General Atomics on a government to government basis. Out of the 31 drones, 16 will help the Indian Navy to ensure maritime security in the Indo-Pacific, eight will be with the Indian Army and the remaining eight will be with the Indian Air Force for tailored strike missions across the land borders.

It is understood that the manufacturer briefed Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and his delegation on the capability and capacity of the drone during his visit to the US in August. The Predator drone has a proven record in the Middle-East and Afghanistan when it comes to precision bombing and taking out high value targets.

While India has been operating two units of Sea Guardian, unarmed version of Predator, from INS Rajali in Tamil Nadu for maritime domain awareness with the platforms on lease from General Atomics. Even though the lease of the two surveillance drones expired in January 2024, the Indian Navy has extended the lease for another four years. The Sea Guardian drone provides real time maritime domain awareness from Sunda Straits in Indonesia to Suez Canal in the west and South Indian Ocean.

With use of stand-off weapons like armed drones increasing as seen in Ukraine and Gaza conflicts, India needs to acquire this capability as non-asymmetric groups like Houthis and Hezbollah have also started using them for target international shipping and Israel respectively.

The acquisition of armed drones has become a priority for India as China and its supplicant state Pakistan are operating CH-4 weaponized unmanned aerial vehicles with Beijing selling these platforms to Rawalpindi.