Cabinet Committee on Security clears defence deals worth Rs 80,000 crore for Predator drones, nuclear submarines: Report

The high-altitude long-endurance drones are capable of remaining airborne for over 35 hours and can carry four Hellfire missiles and around 450 kgs of bombs

The Cabinet Committee on Security(CCS) chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday cleared two defence deals crucial for India's security requirements. According to news agency ANI, CCS has cleared the deal for buying 31 Predator drones from the USA. Under the deal, India will get 31 High Altitude Long Endurance (HALE) UAVs, of which the Navy will get 15 SeaGuardian drones, while the Army and the Indian Air Force will get eight each of the land version – SkyGuardian. The MQ-9B drone is a variant of the MQ-9 "Reaper" which was used to launch a modified version of the Hellfire missile that eliminated al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri in the heart of Kabul in July 2022.

According to ANI, the second major defence deal which has been cleared by the CCS is the manufacturing of two nuclear powered attack submarines at the Ship Building Centre in Vishakhapatnam will be around Rs 45,000 crore

The news agency also said that there will be major involvement of private sector firms like Larsen and Toubro in the manufacturing of the two new nuclear submarines. The MQ-9B 'hunter killer' drones are being procured from US defence major General Atomics under the foreign military sales route at a total cost of around $ 3.1 billion.

The deal had to be cleared before October 31 as the validity of the American proposal was till that time and now it is going to be signed in the next few days only. The proposed mega drone deal was announced during the historic State Visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi here in June 2023.

India is procuring the long-endurance ‘hunter-killer’ drones to crank up the surveillance apparatus of the armed forces, especially along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) with China. The 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.

The high-altitude long-endurance drones are capable of remaining airborne for over 35 hours and can carry four Hellfire missiles and around 450 kgs of bombs. 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.

*With Agency Inputs