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Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) on Thursday cleared acquisition of 30 MQ-9 Reaper armed drones from the General Atomics ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s next week visit to US where the deal would be made public.
Now, the proposal will have to get Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) nod before the actual signing of the contract for UAVs, described as ‘SeaGuardian’, takes place in US.
$3-billion deal
Though the Ministry of Defence (MoD) did not divulge any details of the outcome of the meeting chaired by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, people aware of developments said the DAC has agreed for acquisition of 30 armable MQ-9B SeaGuardian drones for Indian Navy and other forces which may cost close to $3 billion.
Sources also said the possibility of GA putting up an MRO facility here for the upkeep of the MQ-9 drones was also discussed between the two nations.
Navy already has medium altitude and long endurance version of the aerial platform on lease for intelligence gathering especially in the Indian Ocean Region. SeaGuardians can be armed with strike missiles to take down targets.
It is learnt that the Biden administration has been putting pressure on India to finalise the drone deal, knowing Indian Navy’s interest, in the run up to Modi’s US visit and its final contours were discussed during the trip of US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan which concluded on Wednesday. It’s not known whether the US has agreed to India’s position of manufacturing SeaGuardian spares and sub-systems here in Indian under the Aatmanirbhar Bharat scheme.
Sources, however, stated the talks on acquiring GE engines to power Tejas MK-II fighter jets did not mature to come to the DAC and that’s why it was not discussed in Thursday’s meeting. Perhaps, another meeting might take place before the PM flies out, sources observed. There were other minor issues of different contracts that also came up for DAC’s consideration.
MoD signs ₹500-cr contract for Army’s communication system
The MoD inked a contract Thursday with Hyderabad-based ICOMM Tele Limited for procurement of 1,035 of 5/7.5 Ton Radio Relay Communication Equipment Containers under Buy (Indian) category at ₹500 crore. The delivery of the containers, to be mounted on authorised specialist vehicles for operational requirements, is scheduled to commence from the ongoing financial year 2023-24.
The Radio Relay Containers will address a long overdue requirement of mobile communication detachments of the Army, said the MoD in an official statement. These containers will be utilised to provide a protected environment for communication equipment to function in a failsafe and reliable manner.
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 Aatmanirbhar Bharat” and “also help in boosting exports to friendly countries,” the ministry stated.
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