India Seeks To Purchase Patrol Drones From USA

New Delhi: India has sent a Letter of Request (LoR) to the USA seeking to purchase patrol drones for protection and vigilance of its maritime assets in the Indian Ocean.

The move is part of Modi government’s effort to fast track its goal to secure the country’s maritime assets particularly in the Indian Ocean and detect any untoward intrusion like Mumbai terrorist attack.

The Letter of Request (LoR), which has been sent by New Delhi last week, comes less than a fortnight after India was inducted into Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR) and recognized by the USA as a “major defence partner” after the meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Barack Obama earlier this month.

The letter seeks purchase of state of the art multi-mission maritime patrol Predator Guardian UAV’s (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle) from General Atomics. It provides high altitude wide area and has long endurance maritime ISR capability which will help India to safeguard its maritime assets in the Indian Ocean, both 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.

India had previously shown interest in purchasing these drones from the USA, but the Obama administration was unable to process these request as India was not a member of MTCR. After India got the MTCR membership earlier this month, USA has started looking into the proposal and is believed to be moving ahead with the next phase of letter of acceptance.

The issue of drones was discussed by the Prime Minister with President Obama, who gave a favorable response. Referring to the India-USA joint statement on June 7 at the White House, the two leaders reiterated the importance they attach to ensure freedom of navigation and overflight and exploitation of resources as per international law, including the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, and settlement of territorial disputes by peaceful means.

It is being believed that India could be looking at over 250 UAVs over the next few years estimated at over USD 5 billion.