India to negotiate MQ9B drone prices with US, adversaries worried
2 min read 29 Jun 2023, 07:20 PM ISTThe development comes as the Congress was alleging that the government is procuring the 31 MQ-9B Predator UAV drones at a higher price
PremiumIndia will negotiate the acquisition of MQ9B HALE drones with the United States and will seek a competitive deal for the procurement, a senior defence ministry official told Hindustan Times on Thursday. The development comes as the Congress was alleging that the government is procuring the 31 MQ-9B Predator UAV drones at a higher price and claimed that several other countries have brought these at a much lower price than India.
The defence ministry official said that India has only accorded the Acceptance of Necessity for the MQ9B HALE drones and no serious negotiations on the deal have begun. The official also detailed the next steps in the process and said that government will now issue a Letter of Request to the Joe Biden administration and after the approval from the US Congress, we will get the Letter of Offer and Acceptance from the US government.
Contract Negotiation Committee (CNS) will finalize the terms of the agreement and then it will go for the approval of the Cabinet Committee for Security (CCS). The terms of the contract and the actual price of 31 MQ-9B Predator UAV drones will be known only after the above-mentioned steps.
MQ9B drone prices subject to negotiations
The US-based defense company General Atomic has offered India 31 MQ9B drones at a price of $ 3.072 billion, some of which be imported while some will also be manufactured in India under the Transfer of Technology (ToT) agreement. The current price of the drones is subject to negotiations.
The government of India is aiming for a minimum of 15 to 20% ToT and will negotiate for more critical technologies. The government sources stressed that the deal is not against ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ as the DRDO is already developing Tapas, a MALE category drone.
Adversaries may try to scuttle the deal: Sources
Currently, only US has these high-tech MQ9B HALE drones and China is also interested in procuring these drones. The officials claim that the addition of these drones will boost India's defence capabilities and worried adversaries may try to scuttle the acquisition process of these drones.
The decision to purchase the drones was made after detailed deliberations and scientific study by the three services of the Indian armed forces. The government decided to go with the deal on the recommendation of Integrated Defence Services and taking into consideration the geographical and maritime needs of the country.
