Washington: The US has cleared the sale of predator Guardian drones to India, as President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Narendra Modi pledged on Monday to deepen their defence and security cooperation. “Reflecting the partnership, the US has offered for India's consideration the sale of Sea Guardian Unmanned Aerial Systems,” the joint statement said.
India is looking to buy 22 predator Guardian drones from the US for $2 billion. Let’s take a look at what the predator Guardian drones are:
– India is buying the unarmed Guardian Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) which was developed by the US Office of Air and Marine (OAM) in partnership with the US Coast Guard. The Guardian has been modified from a standard Reaper with structural, avionic and communication enhancements and an added Raytheon SeaVue Marine Search Radar. Its Electro-optical/Infrared Sensor is optimized for maritime operations.
– The General Atomics MQ-9 Reaper (sometimes called Predator B) is an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) capable of remotely controlled or autonomous flight operations, developed by General Atomics Aeronautical Systems (GA-ASI) primarily for the United States Air Force.
– The engine of the aircraft is integrated with Digital Electronic Engine Control (DEEC). It enhances the performance of the engine and increases its capability to prevent wasteful consumption of fuel at lower altitudes.
– Currently the drone is being used by Australia, Dominican Republic, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, United Kingdom and the United States.
– The aircraft can be flown for over 27 hours in the air at a maximum altitude of 50,000 feet and a maximum speed of 240 KTAS. With a fault tolerant, triple-redundant flight control system, the drone has more than 90 per cent system operational availability.
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