US-India drone deal: Why New Delhi needs SeaGuardian drones

New Delhi and Washington might conclude a drone deal worth billions of dollars in the backdrop of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s impending state visit to the United States. The development also comes as National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and his US counterpart Jake Sullivan held a bilateral meeting in Delhi on Wednesday. Sullivan is on a two-day trip to India at the invitation of Doval. But what do we know about the MQ-9B predator armed drones? What’s the status of the deal? And why does India need the SeaGuardian drones? Let’s take a closer look: What do we know about the drone? As the name suggests, the MQ-9B SeaGuardian is a maritime-focused drone. Developed by General Atomics, the drone can fly via satellite for over 30 hours in weather conditions of every type. According to the General Atomics website, the drone can “safely integrate into civil airspace, enabling joint forces and civil authorities to deliver real-time situational awareness anywhere in the maritime domain—day or night.” The drone comprises an in-built wide-area maritime radar, an automatic identification system, electronic support measures, and a self-contained anti-submarine warfare (ASW) kit. The SeaGuardian can be used in a variety of operations including

• Humanitarian assistance/disaster relief
• Search and rescue
• Law enforcement
• Anti-surface warfare
• Anti-submarine warfare
• Airborne mine countermeasures
• Long-range strategic ISR
• Over-the-horizon targeting
• Anti-submarine warfare

The Quad grouping of countries –  the United States, India, Australia and Japan – all operate, or have operated, the MQ-9B SeaGuardian. India is currently leasing MQ-9Bs as part of an intelligence-gathering operation. According to the UK Defence Journal, the US Customs and Border Protection, the Italian Air Force, and the Royal Air Force, and Belgium have shown interest in the drone. What’s the status of the deal? The deal could be for between 18 and 30 MQ-9B predator armed drones. Reuters quoted a person familiar with the discussions as saying that the defence ministry had, until last week, still not determined how many drones it wants to buy. The number, which was initially 30, was revised to 24 before being lowered to 18. Sources told Reuters that none of the numbers were final.

The deal could be for up to $3 billion.

The Wire quoted an official source as saying India would purchase these drones through the US Foreign Military Sales route. India would become the first non-NATO state to receive armed UAVs that could be deployed at its borders and in the Indian Ocean Region. Two people familiar with the matter told Reuters the Biden administration is pushing New Delhi to cut through the red tape and advance the deal ahead of Modi’s visit. India has long expressed interest in buying large armed drones from the United States. But bureaucratic stumbling blocks have hampered a hoped-for deal for SeaGuardian drones that could be worth $2 billion to $3 billion for years. India is also seeking components of the equipment to be domestically manufactured, something that could complicate any deal. According to The Wire, the Indian Navy wants 60 per cent of the weapons system to be sourced locally. The outlet quoted Vice Chief of Staff Vice Admiral S.N. Ghormade in February as saying that the deal was being pursued “but we are seeing how it can be indigenised and whatever facilities can be built (for it) in India.” “The question of incorporating indigenous content into the UAVs arises only if they were made in India,” said a former ministry of defence official told the outlet. The official added such a mandate would ‘bamboozle and flummox’ suppliers in the United States. US  negotiators are counting on Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s White House visit on 22 June to break the log jam. [caption id=“attachment_12738872” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] Narendra Modi will make a state visit to the United States. File photo/PTI[/caption] Since the date for Modi’s visit was fixed, the U.S. State Department, Pentagon and White House have asked India to be able to “show” progress on the deal for as many as 30 armable MQ-9B SeaGuardian drones made by General Atomics, two sources said. Breaking India’s bureaucratic log jam on drones hinges on an internal meeting to generate an “Acceptance of Necessity” document, an Indian precursor to a formal “Letter of Request” which kicks off the foreign military sale process. As of Tuesday, the sources did not know if the New Delhi had generated the necessary internal document. “That’s gonna be a decision that the government of India needs to make,” said a senior Biden administration official. “We think it would be good for them to go through with the purchase of MQ-9s. But those decisions are sort of more in the hands of India than they are of us.” Modi and Biden are also expected to discuss co-production of munitions and ground vehicles, like armoured personnel carriers, while Modi is in Washington, the sources said. The Biden administration is keen on inking this deal as soon as possible, which will create jobs and would be politically beneficial ahead of the next year’s presidential elections, people familiar with the development told PTI in February. Spokespeople for the White House, Department of State and the Pentagon declined to comment on the negotiations. US president Joe Biden has made deepening ties with India a cornerstone of his policy to counter China’s growing influence, placing special attention this year on collaboration between the world’s two largest democracies on advanced military technologies, despite their lack of a formal security alliance. New Delhi, which often prizes its non-alignment in conflicts between great powers abroad, has frustrated Washington by maintaining some defence and economic ties with Russia after the invasion of Ukraine. In February, officials in the know told PTI the deal was in the works for more than five years and that the “ball is now in India’s court.” Why does India need the MQ-9B SeaGuardian? The MQ-9B predator armed drones is seen as a key part of India’s national security and defence needs. According to The Wire, experts have for long stated the need for such drones to keep China and Pakistan’s UAVs at bay. The Chinese-designed UAV given to Pakistan can stay in the air for 20 hours and fly at a speed of 370 kmph. “MQ-9B would enable its Indian military users to fly farther than anything else in this category, spend more time in the air and handle a greater diversity of missions than any other similar aircraft. The SkyGuardian and SeaGuardian can deliver full-motion video in virtually any conditions, day or night, as well as other kinds of detailed sensing with their onboard systems,” Vivek Lall, chief executive, General Atomics Global Corporation, told PTI. “The aircraft also can carry a wide variety of specialist payloads if they must adapt to a specific mission. A SkyGuardian becomes a SeaGuardian, for example, when it carries a 360-degree maritime search radar that gives users a quality of maritime domain awareness they can’t achieve any other way,” he said. Artificial intelligence, machine learning and other sophisticated technologies help unlock the rich feed of insight from these aircraft, analyse it and distribute it to those who need it to take quick decisions, Lall said. “Other payloads include communications relays – so the aircraft can serve as a node connecting forces over land or sea – or other intelligence, surveillance or military systems. These aircraft can conduct search and rescue, help fight wildfires, support customs authorities, augment naval forces and take many other tasks,” he said. “In short, MQ-9B is the premier multi-role, long endurance remotely piloted aircraft in the world today. It is in high demand. Japan, Belgium, Great Britain, and several other nations are flying or are on track to begin flying them,” Lall said. With inputs from agencies Read all the  Latest News ,  Trending News ,  Cricket News ,  Bollywood News ,  India News  and  Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook,  Twitter and  Instagram.