As part of the highly anticipated QUAD Indo-Pacific Partnership of Maritime Domain Awareness (IPMDA), the Indian Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) approved the MQ-9B Predator drone deal with modifications and the Indian Navy’s partnership with HawkEye 360. As a result, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh will depart for a five-day visit to the US starting on August 21. People familiar with the details said on Sunday. There was a meeting of the DAC on July 31.
The India-US armed UAV deal was solidified after the Defence Appropriations Commission (DAC) approved amendments regarding the percentage of indigenisation and the placement of an anti-shipping missile developed and manufactured by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) on the Predator. The minister will further solidify defence cooperation with his US counterpart, Lloyd Austin, at the Pentagon on August 23. The intention to mount a DRDO missile on the MQ-9B Predator was abandoned because the manufacturer, General Atomics, was demanding an exorbitant fee for the missile’s integration into the weaponised platform. It is understood that the indigenisation percentage currently stands at thirty percent.
The Modi administration has given the Indian Navy permission to join the IPMDA, which the Quad states declared in May 2022, aside from the Predator agreement, which requires India to pay $3.9 billion for 31 UAVs, missiles, and guided bombs. This implies that to achieve transparency in the Indo-Pacific region using satellites, the Indian Navy would collaborate with the private company HawkEye 360, just like the other QUAD countries. The business, which possesses roughly 36 satellites, will give the QUAD countries complete information on black shipping, terrorism, drug and weapon trafficking, and opponents whose ships turn off their transponders to conduct clandestine surveillance in the Indo-Pacific.
HawkEye 360 satellites detect any radio frequency emission from a ship that has turned off its transponders on purpose, as terrorists have done in the Arabian Sea to target Western warships and pirates have done in the Gulf of Aden to assault commercial shipping.
The IPMDA is intended to prevent any government from obstructing freedom of passage in disputed Southeast Asia and to maintain unity among the Indo-Pacific QUAD members. It is believed that as soon as the Indian Navy receives orders from the government, it will collaborate with HawkEye 360.
The off-the-shelf delivery of GE-404 engines, which power the Tejas Mark IA fighter, is taking longer than expected in India, despite the US-India agreement on technology transfer for GE-414 engines, which will power the Tejas Mark II, proceeding as planned. India has raised this matter with the United States, and the defence minister would only stress how critical it is.
It is believed that Singh will discuss emerging Asian powers like China and non-state actors utilising drones to target merchant shipping following Israel’s war on Gaza with his counterparts during his August 21–25 visit to the US. Significantly, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be in Poland and the war-torn Ukraine concurrently with Singh’s visit to the US.