Purchase nod for 87 drones soon

HT HAS LEARNT THAT THE ACQUISITION OF 87 LONG-ENDURANCE DRONES AND NOD FOR BUILDING 6 AWACS WILL BE APPROVED SOON

- Shishir Gupta

The Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) is set to approve the acquisition of 87 armed medium altitude long endurance (MALE) drones for the Indian armed forces, and the Cabinet Committee of Security (CCS), the construction of six airborne early warning and control aircraft which will be based on the Airbus 319 platform — both measures aimed at plugging key hardware and force-multiplier gaps noticed during Operation Sindoor, people familiar with the matter said.

These will likely be the first armed drones with Indian military — the approved acquisition of the Predator MQ 9B drones from the US will not happen before 2028 — and India has thus far been using Israeli Heron drones for intelligence-surveillance-reconnaissance (ISR) missions and not ina hunting role. The total cost of acquisition is around ₹20,000 crore.