NE NEWS SERVICE
NEW DELHI, JUNE 15
The Defence Ministry, on Thursday, accorded its approval to procure 30 MQ-9B Predator drones from the US to crank up the surveillance apparatus of the armed forces, especially along the frontier with China, people familiar with the development said.
- Navy likely to get 14 drones, IAF and the Army eight each
- It is expected that the mega procurement deal worth around $3 billion would be announced following talks between Modi and US President Joe Biden at the White House next week
- Aatmanirbhar Bharat: MoD signs Rs 500 crore contract to strengthen Indian Army’s communication system
The decision came days ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Washington.
It is expected that the mega procurement deal worth around $3 billion would be announced following talks between Modi and US President Joe Biden at the White House next week.
The procurement proposal was cleared at a meeting of the Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) chaired by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, the people cited above said.
The hunter-killer Sea Guardian drones are being procured for the three services as they can carry out a variety of roles including maritime surveillance, anti-submarine warfare and over-the-horizon targeting among others.
Sources said the Navy is likely to get 14 drones while the Indian Air Force and the Army will get eight each.
The high-altitude long-endurance (HALE) drones are capable of remaining airborne for over 35 hours and can carry four Hellfire missiles and around 450 kg of bombs.
The MQ-9B has two variants – SkyGuardian and its sibling SeaGuardian.
In 2020, the Indian Navy had taken on lease two MQ-9B Sea Guardian drones from General Atomics for a period of one year for surveillance in the Indian Ocean. The lease period has been extended subsequently.
The Indian Navy has been bolstering its surveillance mechanism to monitor growing Chinese activities, including frequent forays by PLA warships in the Indian Ocean Region.
Aatmanirbhar Bharat: MoD signs Rs 500 crore contract to strengthen Indian Army’s communication system
Giving a further boost to indigenous manufacturing of defence equipment and incentivize the private sector to engage in realizing the vision of Aatmanirbhar Bharat, Ministry of Defence inked a contract on June 15, 2023 in New Delhi with ICOMM Tele Limited, Hyderabad for the procurement of 1,035 numbers of 5/7.5 Ton Radio Relay Communication equipment containers. The value of the contract under Buy (Indian) Category is nearly Rs 500 crore. The delivery of the containers is scheduled to commence from the current Financial Year 2023-24.
The Radio Relay Containers will address a long overdue requirement of mobile communication detachments of the Indian Army. These containers will be utilized to provide a protected environment for communication equipment to function in a failsafe and reliable manner. The containers would be mounted on authorized specialist vehicles and moved as per operational requirements.
The company would produce the containers with all equipment and sub-systems sourced from indigenous manufacturers. This will give further boost to the indigenous manufacturing of defence equipment and stimulate the private sector to actively engage in realizing the vision of Aatmnirbhar Bharat. The development of such state-of-the-art equipment will also help in boosting exports to friendly countries.
