India becomes first non-NATO country to receive missile-carrying US 'Predator drone': What's so special about this drone?
The US has approved the sale of 31 ultra-modern Predator drones and the improvised missiles and laser bombs used in them to India. The cost of 31 EQ9B Sky Guardian drones and missiles and other related equipment is approximately $4 billion. India will become the first non-NATO country to receive missile-equipped Predator drones in the next few months following approval by the US Congress.
A statement issued by the Pentagon on Thursday said that the US "Defense Security Cooperation Agency has notified the US Congress of this potential sale after receiving the required approvals".
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi discussed the purchase of these drones during his visit to Washington last June.
According to the Defense Security Cooperation Agency, under this deal worth 3.99 billion dollars, India has acquired 31 MQ-9B Guardian drones, 161 embedded global positioning and inertial navigation systems, 170 AGM-114R Hellfire missiles, 16 The Air Training Missile 310 was requested to purchase small laser bombs and ground control stations, missile launchers and other equipment.
The Pentagon statement said that India is a major force for political stability, peace and economic development in the Indo-Pacific and South Asia. The proposed sale will contribute to the achievement of US foreign policy and national security objectives by strengthening the US-India strategic relationship and improving the security of an important defense partner.
The statement also said that the proposed sale of drones and related weapons would not alter the basic military balance of the region.
The interesting aspect is that no country in South Asia has armed drones of this design. The state-of-the-art Sky Guardian Predator drone is manufactured by General Atomics Aeronautical Company of the United States. According to its website, the MQ-9B Sky Guardian drone is the latest drone aircraft. It can be used for secret information, spying and surveillance all over the world. It can fly through the satellite for more than 40 hours in all weathers and day and night. It is capable of destroying its target on land, sea and air.
Defense analyst Rahul Bedi said that the Sky Guardian drones are a slightly more advanced type of aircraft than the previous Predator. They have a two-in-one role. They also monitor and attack. Out of the 31 drones that India will get, 15 'Sea Guardian' drones will go to the Navy and 8 drones each will go to the Indian Air Force and Indian Army. According to Rahul, when India gets these drones, they will be mostly for the needs of the Navy and they will keep an eye on the Indian Ocean.
Parveen Sawhney, author of The Last War and defense analyst, says that India is part of America's Indo-Pacific strategy. He said that America's objective behind selling these drones to India is that India keeps an eye on the trade route in the Indian Ocean through which all of China's trade runs. So that this way can be blocked in case of any danger.
He says, “India has been given a large area in the Indian Ocean for surveillance. The details of this surveillance will be of great benefit to the United States and NATO countries. America and its strategy will happen.
Drones are very expensive, slow, have low radar evasion capabilities and can be shot down by air defense systems," says Sawhney. From the point of view of China and Pakistan, what India needs is different. These drones are very expensive, India will give the money and America will take the benefit.
He further says that this is why Pakistan did not take such expensive drones. It has acquired drones from Turkey and China that are very good for its needs.
Such drones were used by the US for targeted killing and destruction of specific targets in Afghanistan, Syria, and Iraq etc. Recently, Israel also used them to destroy targeted targets. So can India use them to target specific individuals and targets in Pakistan?
In response to this, Rahul Bedi says that these drones have excellent capabilities for such operations "but it will be a bit difficult to use against Pakistan" as the recent tensions between Iran and Pakistan have been. If the situation is between India and Pakistan, it will be a very serious matter.
Rahul Bedi says the US Predator drone is too 'labor intensive'. It requires 200 to 300 trained staff to operate, receive feeds, understand, monitor round the clock and other tasks.
He says that there is no doubt that with these advanced drones, India will join the seven or eight countries in the world that have such drones. They are expensive of course but will prove to be very useful for future wars.
Rahul Bedi said that India had acquired two Sky Guardian drones from the US on lease in 2021. But these are not drones designed to drop missiles and bombs. These are only surveillance and reconnaissance drones and are used by India.
They were recently used by the Indian Navy for surveillance after attacks by Houthi rebels in the Red Sea. These surveillance drones were also used to monitor the movement of Chinese troops along the Indo-China border in Ladakh.
