NEW DELHI: An MQ-9B SeaGuardian remotely piloted aircraft (RPA), leased by the Indian Navy from the US, ditched into the Bay of Bengal on Wednesday following a technical glitch during a surveillance mission, the navy said.
Ditching refers to an aircraft making an emergency landing in water.
The high-altitude long-endurance RPA is unsalvageable and will be written off, HT has learnt.
A variant of the Predator B drones manufactured by US firm General Atomics, the navy leased two MQ-9Bs four years ago to boost its intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) capabilities in the vast Indian Ocean region (IOR), and has been operating them from naval air station Rajali in Tamil Nadu.
“A high-altitude long endurance remotely piloted aircraft (HALE RPA) leased by the Indian Navy operating from INS Rajali, Arakkonam (near Chennai) encountered a technical failure at about 1400 hrs whilst on a routine surveillance mission which could not be reset in flight,” the navy said in a statement.
The RPA navigated to a safe area and carried out a controlled ditching at sea off Chennai, it said, adding that a detailed report has been sought from the original equipment manufacturer (OEM) General Atomics.
Under the lease, the two RPAs have been operated by the OEM to provide assured surveillance of the vast region to the navy, officials aware of the matter said. The OEM will now have to replace the lost RPA with another one to meet the navy’s needs as per the agreement, they added.
The RPAs have helped the navy keep a close watch on the Indian Ocean at a time when it has stepped up surveillance in the region to check China’s ambitions. The two MQ-9Bs have clocked a combined 18,000 hours of flying.
The incident comes at a time when India in negotiating the purchase of 31 MQ-9Bs from the US to boost the military’s strength in a deal worth almost $3.1 billion. The estimated cost includes weapons, sensors, ground control stations, ground data terminals, ground handling equipment, spares and logistics support. Fifteen UAVs will be for the navy, and eight each for the army and the Indian Air Force.
The versatile platform will have the capability to strike targets with its on-board weapons, it will be used for ISR; and its other roles include electronic warfare, defensive counter air and airborne early warning.
The MQ-9B was the first piece of military hardware to be leased by India after the government announced new weapon-acquisition procedures that allowed the option of leasing weapons and systems. The Defence Acquisition Procedure-2020 permitted the leasing of military hardware to cut down on costs associated with buying equipment.
Capable of operating at an altitude of 40,000 feet, the MQ-9B UAVs have an endurance of 40 hours and a range of more than 5,000 nautical miles. The navy has a vast area of responsibility in IOR spanning millions of square kilometres, with warships deployed from as far as the Persian Gulf to the Strait of Malacca and northern Bay of Bengal to the southeast coast of Africa.