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Defence Acquisition Council (DAC), chaired by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, reviewed and approved amendments to the deal for procuring 31 MQ-9B High Altitude Long Endurance (HALE) Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) from General Atomics of the U.S.
MQ-9B
The MQ-9B Predator drone ("Predators") is an unmanned aerial vehicle developed by General Atomics Aeronautical Systems (GA-ASI), with its primary purpose being for the United States Air Force (USAF).
They are High Altitude Long Endurance (HALE) drones that can fly for over 40 hours using a satellite.
Out of the 31 MQ-9B Predator drones, 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.
Estimated cost of $3.99 billion.
As part of the deal, General Atomics is scheduled to establish a Global Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO) facility in India which would count towards offset obligations
MQ-9B UAV can be used for offensive missions, reconnaissance, surveillance, and intelligence operations
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