A senior government official claimed on Thursday that the average estimated cost of the MQ-9B long endurance drones provided by the US to India is 27% less than the price paid by other countries, and that Indian representatives will strive to drop it even further during negotiations.

The final price will be competitive compared to the prices incurred by other countries, he added, emphasising emphatically that conversations on the pricing issue have not yet started. Only if India requests more features, he said, can the pricing be raised.

The “acceptance of necessity” granted by the Defence Acquisition Council on June 15 represents the most recent formal update on the intended acquisition of 31 of these drones. He clarified that the pricing problem is unrelated to this.

The US government’s drones have an estimated price of $3,072 million.

According to him, each drone costs $99 million, and the UAE, one of the few nations that owns them, paid USD 161 million for each one. According to him, the MQ-9B India is trying to purchase is comparable to the UAE’s but has a better configuration.

Sixteen of these drones purchased by the UK cost it $69 million each but it was only a “green aircraft” without sensors, weapons and certification. Features like censors, weapons and payloads make up for 60-70 per cent of the total cost, he said, adding that even the US acquired five of them at USD 119 million each.

Due to the size of India’s deal and the fact that the manufacturer might have recovered a big part of its initial investment from earlier deals, the price for the country is working out to be less than others, he said, speaking on the condition of anonymity.

He, however, added that India may need to integrate some of its own radars and missiles with these drones, which may prompt a price revision.

The remarks came a day after the Congress demanded complete transparency in the multi-crore India-US drone deal, while alleging that the 31 MQ-9B predator drones were being procured at a higher price.

Sources said such a statement might have been made out of “ignorance”.

Reacting to reports that the Air Force had raised some questions about the drones, they said all three wings, including the Army and the Navy, of defence forces have made their points during consultations and have recommended their acquisitions.

India is looking at realising 15-20 per cent technological know-how as part of transfer of technology, and major components and subsystems, including engines, radar processor units, avionics, sensors and software, being manufactured and sourced from here, they said.

Once the final nod is given to the deal from both governments, India is looking to buy 11 of these drones off-the-shelf to meet its immediate needs and the rest will be assembled in the country, they said.

There may be attempts to “scuttle” the deal by floating false news and propaganda as the advanced weapons are bound to cause fear and consternation among India’s rivals, they claimed.

These advanced drones will help India to surveil its enemies effectively. “It will hugely reduce the prospect of our enemies surprising us,” one of them asserted.

According to them, these drones will give India’s military forces better capabilities for monitoring the nation’s land and sea borders.

They claimed that since the agreement would be between the governments of India and the US, it would undoubtedly be open and equitable.

In what is believed to be a part of his ambitions to make India a centre for drone manufacture, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the US finalised the drone contract when he was on his high-profile visit to Washington.

The high-altitude long-endurance (HALE) drones can carry four Hellfire missiles and about 450 kg of explosives, and they can stay in the air for more than 35 hours.

General Atomics leased two MQ-9B Sea Guardian drones to the Indian Navy in 2020 for a year of monitoring in the Indian Ocean. After that, the lease’s term was extended.

(WITH INPUT SOURCE)