Rapid Fire
MQ-9B Drone Deal
- 18 Oct 2024
- 2 min read
Recently, India signed a defence deal worth USD 3.5 billion with the US to acquire 31 MQ-9B Predator armed drones for its armed forces. General Atomics, the manufacturer of the drones, will set up a maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) facility in India.
- The deal has been conducted under the foreign military sales (FMS) system.
- FMS is the US Government’s program for transferring defence articles, services, and training to its international partners and international organisations.
- It will first help India boost “deterrence by detection” enabling India to detect early adversarial advances on land and at sea, particularly from China, helping to prevent conflict.
- These high-altitude long-endurance (HALE) drones are capable of remaining airborne for over 35 hours and can carry four Hellfire missiles (short-range tactical missile) and around 450 kgs of bombs.
- India-US Defence Partnership:
- The US was the 3rd largest supplier of arms to India during 2018-22 after Russia and France. Defence procurements from the US stands at almost USD 20 billion in 2023.
- Key defence agreements include the Logistics Exchange Memorandum of Agreement (2016), Communications Compatibility and Security Agreement (2018), Industrial Security Agreement (2019), and Basic Exchange and Cooperation Agreement (2020).
Read More: India Approves Acquisition of MQ-9B Armed Drones from the US
