US Congress will take call on it now

US State Department has cleared the decks for sale of 31 armed UAV’s – the MQ-9B — to India. These are to be made by General Atomics and are in use across several forces of the world.

The project with ammunition, surveillance, repairs and spare engines will cost an estimated $3.99 billion (approx Rs 32,000 crore).

The Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) delivered the required certification notifying US Congress of this possible sale today, the DSCA said.

As per the US process, the Congress will recommend the sale to US President for final ratification.

India has requested to buy 31 MQ-9B Sky Guardian aircraft. The payload sought by India are a mix and match of offensive equipment and surveillance. The UAV is long range one. It can stay up in the air for 36 hours while tracking any threat.

The DSCA said it has delivered the certification and that includes 170 of the AGM-114R hellfire missiles; sixteen M36E9 hellfire captive air training missiles; 310 laser small diameter bombs; and eight laser guided test vehicles with live fuses. For surveillance, India has sought 161 embedded global positioning and inertial navigation systems; 35 Rio Grande communications intelligence sensor suites.

Courtesy: The Tribune India:  2nd Feb , 2024