‘Other countries buying at less than four times the price’: Congress questions India-US Predator drone deal

The Congress on Wednesday claimed that India is paying more than other countries for purchasing Predator drones from the US. The grand old party further said that other countries are paying less than four times the price for Predator drones compared to India. The party added that India is buying 31 Predator drones for $3 billion or around Rs 25,000 crore, implying that a Predator drone costs India Rs 880 crore.  

Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera said at a press conference: “What happened in the Rafale deal, is being repeated in the Predator drone deal with US. Other countries are buying the same drones at less than four times the price. India is buying 31 Predator drones for 3 billion US dollars, which is Rs 25,000 crores. We are buying a drone for Rs 880 crores”.  

Congress’ reaction comes days after the Ministry of Defence (MoD) refuted social media reports referring to the price and terms of purchase of 31 predator drones or MQ-9B drones from the US. The MoD said in a statement accessed by ANI these reports are uncalled for and are planted by those having ulterior motives. It further said that these reports are meant to derail the due acquisition process.  

The statement added: “In this regard, all are requested not to spread fake news and misinformation which can have serious impact on the morale of the Armed Forces and adversely impact the acquisition process”.  

On June 15, the Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) granted the acceptance of necessity (AoN) for acquiring 31 Predator drones for tri-services from the USA. As per this AoN, 16 Sky Guardian and 15 Sea Guardian drones will be procured for the three services via the foreign military sale (FMS) route.  

As per this system of procuring weapons, a letter of request (LoR) will be sent to the US government wherein requirements of all the three services, details if equipment and terms of procurement would be listed. Based on this, the US government and MoD will finalise the letter of offer and acceptance (LOA).  

The LOA will list details of equipment and terms of procurement would be negotiated and finalized according to the FMS program. The final price at which the drones will come to India will, however, be negotiated once policy approval comes from the US government. The Defence Ministry will compare the acquisition cost with the best price provided by General Atomics (GA) to other countries.  

Predator drones can fly up to 36 hours at a stretch and also be used for focused monitoring of a specific point or area of interest. The drones will be deployed at three major hubs across India to carry out surveillance of areas including borders with China and Pakistan.  

One of these will be deployed in the North or Northwest region whereas another would be deployed in the northeastern region. One of the hubs will be created at the INS Rajali from where the forces are already operating two Predator drones taken on lease in 2020-21 during the border clashes with China.  

The three forces will also operate these drones from bases which would enable launching and landing of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).  

(With ANI inputs)

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