Even as India is considering the purchase of General Atomics drones, the MQ-9B Sea Guardian, Taiwan has gone ahead and done a deal for getting four the drones for almost $ 555 Million
A new ‘technology suite’ for light drones allows longer flight hours and with less human intervention. Compared with traditional drones using batteries and line-of-sight radio links, drones equipped with Honeywell’s Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) technologies can fly farther, carry more weight, avoid hazards up to three kilometers away and stream video of their progress anywhere in the world.
The F404-GE-IN20 engine is an enhanced production version of the F404, which is successfully powering India’s Light Combat Aircraft MKI. The highest thrust variant of the F404 family, the F404-GE-IN20 incorporates GE’s latest hot section materials and technologies, as well as a FADEC for reliable power and outstanding operational characteristics
India is looking at two variants. One for the Navy and the other for the Army and the IAF. India has, so far, been studying the MQ9B-Sky Guardian and the Sea Guardian, models of the company. However, some of the drones will the latest variant of the predator family called the MQ-9A block 5, that has been successfully tested for anti submarine warfare (ASW) capability in January this year.
AEW&CS planes are to be developed by Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) – an entity under the Ministry of Defence – under a Rs 10,500 crore ( $1.3 billion) plan. These planes will be modified to fly with a radar that will give 360-degree surveillance capability to the defence forces.
The US policy change affected in July this year and the subsequent moves, break China’s rapidly growing influence in the ‘armed drone market’. India or Taiwan would be a ‘no go zone’ for Chinese companies, which, however, in the past, had sold drones to UAE. Beijing had even sold some drones to Saudi Arabia, a long standing ally of the US
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