A SeaGuardian drone. (Photo: General Atomics)
New Delhi: An Indian Navy MQ-9B SeaGuardian drone, leased from the United States, crashed into the Bay of Bengal off the coast of Chennai, on Wednesday. According to the Navy, the drone, which had been operating from INS Rajali, a naval air station in Tamil Nadu, encountered a technical failure at around 2pm. Despite efforts to fix the malfunction, the issue could not be resolved, which led to a controlled ditching of the drone.
This comes at a time when India is on the verge of signing a multibillion-dollar deal with the US to purchase 31 of these drones – 15 for the Indian Navy and eight each for the Indian Army and the Indian Air Force, as part of a larger defence-acquisition plan.
The SeaGuardian drone is a variant of the US-made Predator B, designed for long-range maritime reconnaissance. These drones were leased by the Navy in 2020 to boost its intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) capabilities across the vast Indian Ocean region (IOR). The drone involved in the incident was one of two such UAVs that have logged over 18,000 flight hours during their deployment.
The drone was navigated to a safe area for the emergency landing at sea resulting in no injuries. However, Navy sources said the $150 million drone is unsalvageable and will be written off. The service has requested a detailed investigation from General Atomics, the drone’s manufacturer, to determine the root cause of the failure.
Under the lease agreement, General Atomics is responsible for the maintenance of the drones and will replace the lost unit to meet the Navy’s operational needs.
