Drones: US sells $1.8 billion worth of aircraft to India
India and the United States will announce a major defense deal during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's upcoming state visit to Washington. The deal to purchase 18 MQ-9 Predator drones worth $1.8 billion from the US will strengthen the strategic partnership between India and the US. The two countries are also to finalize a multibillion-dollar deal for India to produce engines for US-designed General Electric F 414 fighter jets. A separate Rs 800 million deal to lease two MQ-9 Sea Guardian drones for the Indian Navy will also be announced.
These deals will strengthen the US's position as India's second largest supplier of defense hardware after Russia. Since 2008, the United States has sold India $18 billion worth of military hardware. The most recent deal was the $2.1 billion purchase of 24 MH-60R Seahawk naval helicopters, signed in February 2020.
The MQ-9 is a high-altitude, long-endurance (HALE) satellite-guided drone. It can fly at an altitude of 45,000 feet and be on duty for 35 hours. It has sensors such as radar and electronic support measures that locate the enemy and can attack targets with bombs and missiles.
The Indian Navy operates two unarmed MQ-9 Sea Guardians leased from the United States. These were introduced under the Indian Navy's emergency powers in the wake of the Ladakh standoff in 2020 and intended to monitor Chinese People's Army Navy deployments in the Indian Ocean. Both RPAs are based at INS Rajali, a naval air station 70km west of Chennai.
The purchase of the MQ-9 has been planned for six years. In 2017, the Navy proposed the purchase of 22 Sea Guardians. The following year, the Defense Ministry converted the case into a procurement of 30 drones for three services, ten units for each service. The number was reduced to just six for budgetary reasons and to promote domestically produced equipment.
While the previous deal was made between the Indian Navy and US firm General Atomics under the Navy's emergency purchasing powers, the new deal will be signed by the Indian Defense Ministry and the foreign supplier. This deal is unique in that there will be no technology transfer or defense compensation: the drones will be built in the US and transferred to India. The drones will be delivered within five years. Also, under this deal, India will become the first non-NATO state to receive US armed UAVs for deployment along its borders and also in the Indian Ocean region.
The MQ-9B, sometimes called the Predator-B, is a larger version of the Predator Remotely Piloted Aircraft (RPA) that first flew in 1994. Predator-series RPAs have been the mainstay of the United States' global presence ever since. United, deployed in hot spots around the world. On March 14 this year, a Russian Su-27 fighter intercepted an MQ-9 Reaper drone near the Crimea, causing it to crash.
A senior official said the MQ-9s are superior to leased RPAs because they are military aircraft, unlike leased RPAs which are similar to regular leased aircraft. “The MQ-9s we are purchasing have been upgraded with a new radar and higher service ceilings. They are equipped with a "due regard" radar, i.e. they are authorized to fly in controlled airspace. Current (leased) drones fly at around 26,000 feet and are not military aircraft.”
Drones have changed warfare. Both sides in the war between Russia and Ukraine are using drones to target troops, equipment and bunkers. A May 2023 RUSI report claims that Russia shoots down 10,000 Ukrainian drones a month. Closer to home, Chinese drones have been a major concern of the Indian Army along the LAC. In December 2022 the Indian Air Force had to scramble its fighters to counter aerial violations by Chinese drones in Arunachal Pradesh. Pakistan has also deployed drones to smuggle weapons and drugs across the border. In June 2021, a group of Pakistani terrorists attacked the Indian Army in Jammu and Kashmir using drones that dropped shaped explosive charges.
Pakistan has been developing UAVs and UCAVs in cooperation with China and there are concerns that Turkey's impressive advances in drone technology could lead to technology transfer to Pakistan. In this scenario, the acquisition of the Predator enables the Indian Armed Forces to enhance effective surveillance of land and sea borders before indigenous options can be deployed.
With this purchase, India is trying to deal with two problems: on the one hand, the backwardness of the internal technological system on this front, on the other, the need to counter very cumbersome neighbors such as Pakistan and China. India is trying to detach itself from Russian supplies because they go in parallel with those to China, which Delhi is facing on the Himalayan front. In this international situation, even US drones are fine.
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The article Drones: US sells $1.8 billion of aircraft to India comes from Economic Scenarios .
This is a machine translation of a post published on Scenari Economici at the URL https://scenarieconomici.it/droni-gli-usa-vendono-18-miliardi-usd-di-aerei-allindia/ on Fri, 16 Jun 2023 19:25:31 +0000.