India will kick-off the formal acquisition process for the 31 top-notch weaponised MQ-9B drones from the US early next month, with the aim being to ink the actual contract within this fiscal and complete induction of all the remotely-piloted aircraft systems in phases over the next six to seven years.
The “hunter-killer” MQ-9B Reaper or Predator-B drones, designed to fly for around 40 hours at altitudes over 40,000-feet for surveillance missions and armed with Hellfire air-to-ground missiles and smart bombs for precision strikes, are far superior to China’s existing armed drones. China, incidentally, has also been supplying its armed Cai Hong-4 and Wing Loong-II drones to Pakistan.
“The actionable LoR (letter of request) for the 31 MQ-9B drones will be sent to the US government in the first week of July. This comes after the Rajnath Singh-led defence acquisitions council accorded the AoN (acceptance of necessity) for the deal on June 15,” a top defence ministry officer said on Saturday.
The inter-governmental deal for the 31 drones -- 15 Sea Guardians for Navy and eight Sky Guardians each for Army and IAF with their associated mobile ground control systems, weapons and other equipment -- is estimated to be worth around $3.5 billion (almost Rs 29,000 crore).
25/06/2023 Rajat Pandit/Times of India
To Read the News in full at Source, Click the Headline
0 comments:
Post a Comment