The US State Department today notified Congress that it has greenlit the potential sale of 31 MQ-9B SkyGuardian drones and related missiles, bombs and other equipment to India in a deal estimated to be worth just under $4 billion.
“This proposed sale will support the foreign policy and national security objectives of the United States by helping to strengthen the U.S.-Indian strategic relationship and to improve the security of a major defense partner which continues to be an important force for political stability, peace, and economic progress in the Indo-Pacific and South Asia region,” the State Department said in the public notification. The proposed sale will improve India’s capability to meet current and future threats by enabling unmanned surveillance and reconnaissance patrols in sea lanes of operation.”
General Atomics describes the MQ-9B SkyGuardian, as well as its maritime brethren the MQ-9B SeaGuardian, as a descendant of the company’s famous MQ-9A Reaper. With a 79-foot wingspan, General Atomics says the MQ-9B “provides enhanced payload capacity and an open architecture system that enables the aircraft to integrate the most advanced sensor payloads for intelligence gathering, survivability, and even kinetic payloads for more complex operational environments.”
The State Department’s approval of a big MQ-9B sale to India comes as General Atomics said it’s working with US officials to clear the way for another large sale, this one for MQ-9Bs to the United Arab Emirates — an estimated $3 billion deal that got wrapped up in a bigger, but more controversial F-35 sale.
