India Signs Contract With US’ General Atomics For 2 MQ-9B Sea Guardian On Lease For Navy

The Ministry of Defence on Monday inked a contract with American giant General Atomics Aeronautical Systems for leasing of two MQ-9B Sea Guardian high-altitude long-endurance (HALE) remotely piloted aircraft systems (RPAS) for the Indian Navy.

 Valued at around Rs 1,943 crore, the contract covering a 30-month lease period, was signed in the presence of the defence ministry’s additional secretary & director general (acquisition) A Anbarasu at Kartavya Bhawan-2 in New Delhi.

Equipped with advanced systems, state-of-the-art sensors and sophisticated payloads, the MQ-9B Sea Guardian will significantly enhance the Indian Navy’s maritime domain awareness capabilities, particularly after increased Chinese naval activities in the Indian Ocean Region.

The systems will provide persistent Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance coverage over vast areas of the maritime domain, strengthening India’s ability to monitor and respond to developments across the Indian Ocean Region.

The Sea Guardian, built by the San Diego-based General Atomics, is fitted with advanced sensors and sophisticated payloads designed for extended maritime patrols. It is powered by a Honeywell TPE331-10 turboprop engine and can cruise at speeds above 310 km per hour while maintaining operational ceilings up to 40,000 feet.

Sea Guardian’s wide-area maritime surveillance suite includes synthetic aperture radar (SAR), inverse SAR, electro-optical/infrared (EO/IR) sensors, and Automatic Identification System (AIS) receivers for tracking shipping traffic.

It is pertinent to mention here that the lease builds on India’s deepening reliance on the MQ-9B platform. In October 2024, New Delhi concluded a separate agreement to buy 31 of the drones, which include 15 for the Navy and eight each for the Army and Air Force, in a deal worth about to USD4 billion.

The contact which was inked on Monday is an interim leasing arrangement, allowing the Navy to put the platform to use for maritime surveillance while the larger acquisition moves through the pipeline.

However, the defence sources did not mention where the two leased aircraft would be based or when they would become operational.

The Navy currently operates two Sea Guardian drones on lease from General Atomics since 2020 and they have completed around 15,000 flying hours.