ACQUISITION OF MQ-9B DRONES

The Defence Acquisition Council (DAC), on June 15, 2023, accorded the Acceptance of Necessity (AoN) for acquisition of 31 MQ-9B (16 Sky Guardian and 15 Sea Guardian) High Altitude Long Endurance (HALE) Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems (RPAS) for Tri-Services from the USA through Foreign Military Sale (FMS) route. The AoN included the number of UAVs to be procured along with associated equipment.

In a Joint Statement from the United States and India, President Biden and Prime Minister Modi welcomed India’s plans to procure General Atomics MQ-9B HALE UAVs. The MQ-9Bs, which will be assembled in India, will enhance the ISR capabilities of India’s armed forces across domains. As part of this plan, General Atomics will also establish a Comprehensive Global MRO facility in India to support of India’s long-term goals to boost indigenous defence capabilities. SP survivability and kinetic payloads. It has nine hardpoints (eight on wing and one on centerline) with a max 2,155 kg external payload capacity. Its avionics suite has been innovatively designed to meet the NATO standards as well as comply with civil airspace requirements in the US and around the world, thus, SkyGuardian seamlessly integrates with normal air traffic just like a commercial aircraft. It has nine hard points, capable of carrying 4 Hellfire (AGM-4-114) laser guided missiles and GBU-12 Paveway II Laser guided bombs.

The SeaGuardian is a modified version of SkyGuardian with “bolt-on/bolt-off” maritime sensors capability. Besides the other avionics of SkyGuardian, it has a facility of fitment of wide area maritime radar on the centre line. It offers a SATCOM endurance of 30 hours. It can be fitted with sonobuoy dispenser system (SDS) and sonobuoy management and control system (SMCS) thereby offering a superior ASW capability.

Indian Armed Forces Requirements

India has considerably stepped up its surveillance along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) with China, using a fleet of unmanned drones. Availability of a long endurance SATCOM capable MQ-9B drones would be a big up-gradation in Indian surveillance capability.

China’s increasing naval activity in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR), including the docking of the Yuan Wang 5 ship in Sri Lanka, makes the need for the MQ-9B drone even more significant for India. The IN wants to be able to keep an eye on the movements of Chinese warships and submarines in the Indian Ocean and these UAVs are ideally suited for the task. India has a vast Maritime area which needs to be kept under surveillance apart from a huge land border with a western Pakistan and China which also needs to be kept under surveillance.

Presently, the Indian armed forces operate the Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) manufactured Searcher and Heron drones. These however have limited intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) capability, limited ranges and endurance. Also, these UAVs lack precise automation and navigation capability. They do not have an onboard Identification Friend or Foe (IFF) receiver thus are constrained to be employed in dense traffic and heavy air defence environment. In modern air warfare there is requirement to be able to operate in highly contested airspace, have onboard terrain and collision avoidance systems, have SATCOM capability to operate at long ranges from launch bases, with

Military Combat Drones

redundant communication systems. Indian terrain, especially along the LAC with China need drones with higher ceiling as well. The present drones on the inventory, lack some of the above specifications and they are not weaponised. Thus, in view of the prevailing geopolitical situation there is an urgent inescapable requirement to have a weaponsied drone to meet the operational requirements of Indian armed forces. This would provide more teeth to the offensive air power at longer ranges.

INDIAN NAVY’S EXPERIENCE

The Indian Navy (IN), under emergency procurement powers delegated to the Service Headquarters has taken two MQ-9B SeaGuardian on lease since November 2020 for a year, later extended based on its more than satisfactory performance. It has logged more than 10,000 flight hours in various roles. The MQ-9B SeaGuardian, together with the P-8I Orion maritime patrol aircraft have proved to be a force multiplier for the IN. The UAV has been extensively deployed along the western borders with Pakistan and along the 3,488 km Line of Actual Control (LAC) with China for ISR purposes, on numerous occasions.

The MQ-9B has an endurance of over 27 hours and can operate up to 50,000 feet. The naval version has an endurance of more than 36 hours, thereby providing significant loiter time, multi-modal communication, persistent surveillance and precision strike capability. Once delivered and employed, these HALE UAVs would greatly enhance the Intelligence Surveillance Reconnaissance (ISR) capabilities of the Indian armed forces, offer better situational awareness in the maritime domain awareness. The weaponised UAV SkyGuardian will be able to strike strategic targets in mountains and hills with unprecedented precision.

These MQ-9B have been undertaking multiple missions in all weather conditions, conducting long range surveillance missions and delivering real time situational awareness in the maritime domain.

INDIA’S LIKELY ACQUISITION PLANS

The agreement signed in the US will take time to translate into action when actual contours of the deal would be clear. Media reports that India has plans to acquire MQ-9B UAVs in a phased manner. The first phase would include 16 MQ-9B SeaGuardian for the IN, essentially for enhancing the maritime domain awareness in Indo-Pacific. The second phase induction is likely to witness induction of weaponised platforms for the other two services.

While the precise details of the deal in terms of its acquisition costs, delivery schedule, other equipment and accessories are yet to emerge, it is clear that these world class drones are going to be assembled in India, after the initial five from the US in semi knocked down condition. Their acquisition deal would include maintenance, overhaul and repair (MRO) of the UAVs. These are likely to be serviced initially at INS Rajali at Arakonam in Tamil Nadu, from where the IN is operating its leased UAVs. Later two more operating and servicing bases are likely to be made operational in the northern area and another in the Northeast.

Ahead of this huge announcement in the US, GA-ASI had announced its partnerships with Indian companies including Bharat Forge to will produce sub-assemblies, assemblies and landing gear components for MQ-9B UAV.

Indian Alternatives

Although the plan to buy this UAV has been on the cards for a long time, its purchase got delayed due to the emphasis on self-reliance in the defence sector and limitations imposed on imports at various stages.

While Turkey, Israel, and even Iran have been able to develop and deploy long-endurance unmanned aerial vehicles and loitering munitions, most drone programmes run by India’s DRDO have not reached maturation in the last decade.

Amongst the various UAV or drone programmes being run by the DRDO, TAPAS-BH is the pioneer. It is in MALE category. The indigenously built TAPAS-BH got into limelight and became Indian media’s darling when the DRDO live streamed the footage captured by the TAPAS-BH of the Aero India 2023 show, flying at a height of 12,000 feet.

TAPAS is an acronym for Tactical Airborne Platform for Aerial Surveillance - Beyond Horizon-201 (TAPAS BH-201) is an under development MALE UAV. Aeronautical Development Establishment (ADE) has been developing it for DRDO. The development has been going full bore, last week, it successfully demonstrated transfer of command and control capabilities of TAPAS-BH between the two ground control stations (GCS) located at its launch base in Aeronautical Test Range (ATR), Chitradurga and onboard INS Subhadra.

TAPAS-BH is still far from operationalisation and weaponisation is a further away. The technology gained in manufacturing and MRO of high-tech MQ-9B would help the Indian industry a big way and galvanise the Indian private Defence sector, while providing the armed forces the much needed real time reliable surveillance capability. SP