India to buy US Predator drones
Washington, June 22: India has sought from the US high-tech multi-mission Predator drones for protecting its maritime assets, especially in the Indian Ocean.
India’s has conveyed its desire to purchase the drones in a letter of request (LoR) to the US last week, sources said.
This is part of the Indian Government’s efforts to fast track its goal to secure the country’s maritime assets in particular in the Indian Ocean and detect untoward intrusion like the one during Mumbai terrorist attack on a real time basis.
The LoR comes less than a fortnight after India was inducted into Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR) and was recognised as a “Major Defence Partner” by the US after a meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Barack Obama.
Sources said the request has been made for state - of-the-art multi mission maritime patrol Predator Guardian UAV’s from General Atomics.
The Predator ‘Guardian’ platform, which provides high altitude wide area long endurance maritime intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) capability, would help in protection and vigilance of its maritime assets in the Indian Ocean and both its east and west coast.
Flying at an altitude of 50,000 feet, these drones have the capacity to fly non-stop for more than 24 hours and monitor the movement of objects as small as a football on a real time basis, sources said requesting anonymity. It is understood that India had previously shown interest in purchasing these drones from the US, but the Obama Administration was unable to process these request as India was not a member of MTCR.
Now that India has become a member of MTCR, the US has started looking into the proposal.
— PTI