INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
NEW DELHI: India could strike a decent bargain in its multi-billion Predator drone deal with US, with the average estimated cost around 27%
lower than what was incurred by other countries, PTI reported quoting official sources.The long-pending drone deal was announced after Prime
Minister Narendra Modi's talks with US President Joe Biden during the former's recent visit to the US
The contours of the mega deal were finalised a few weeks ago by Rajnath Singh and his US counterpart Lloyd Austin.Under the proposed $3.5
confidence that the final price will be competitive compared to the costs borne by other countries
The prices can be revised upwards only if India seeks additional features, he said.The latest official development towards the proposed
acquisition of 31 of these drones has been the "acceptance of necessity" accorded by the Defence Acquisition Council, which happened on June
The pricing issue is not part of this, he added.The indicative cost of the drones offered by the US government is $3,072 million.This works
out to be $99 million for each drone, he said.He pointed out that the drones cost the UAE, one of the few countries to have it, $161 million
Moreover, the MQ-9B India is looking to acquire is comparable with the UAE's but with a better configuration.Sixteen of these drones
purchased by the UK cost it $69 million each but it was only a "green aircraft" without sensors, weapons and certification
Features like censors, weapons and payloads make up for 60-70 per cent of the total cost, he said, adding that even the US acquired five of
them at $119 million each.Due to the size of India's deal and the fact that the manufacturer might have recovered a big part of its initial
investment from earlier deals, the price for the country is working out to be less than others, he said, speaking on the condition of
anonymity.He, however, added that India may need to integrate some of its own radars and missiles with these drones, which may prompt a
price revision.The remarks come in the backdrop of Congress demanding complete transparency in the multi-crore India-US drone deal, while
alleging that the 31 MQ-9B predator drones were being procured at a higher price.It also raked up the Rafale controversy to attack the
Centre.The high-altitude long-endurance (HALE) drones are capable of remaining airborne for over 35 hours and can carry four Hellfire
Indian Ocean Region as well as the land frontiers with China and Pakistan
