Indian armed forces are looking for the drones, both for attack and surveillance.
New Delhi will be getting the same drones as available to the US forces and its allies like the UK, Canada and Australia.
At present, India does not have long endurance armed drones that can fire missiles at desired targets and return to the base. The armed drones will change the battle-scape and New Delhi’s prowess. It is available in multiple variants and can be used to target enemy positions on ground, warships at sea, airbases and even small targets like planes, besides 24x7 surveillance capability. Only a select group of countries have these drones made by General Atomics. India is set to acquire MQ-9B Guardian armed drones, which is again the high-end technology. This sort of technology transfer has not been done by the US for anyone outside its group of allies. The two sides are looking for a licensing agreement that will allow progressive transfer of technology of engines. Super-alloys in these blades make them heat-resistant. Some of the manufacturing processes, especially metallurgy, are top secrets, including the single-crystal turbine blades.
General Electric is expected to open a manufacturing base with the HAL where specific technologies will be brought in. The forthcoming version, Tejas Mark 1A, is also to fly with the GE-404. The existing version of the Tejas Mark 1 is powered by a GE-404 engine. New Delhi has chosen the GE-F414 engine for the light combat aircraft Tejas Mark 2 and also for the naval twin-engine fighter jet. General Electric of the US is expected to ink an agreement with public sector Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) to produce jet engines (GE-F414) in India. Expected defence cooperation agreements between India and the US during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit will lay the foundation for India getting into the next league of technology in making engines for aircraft, operating cutting-edge armed drones and use of space.
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