India has signed a $4 billion deal with the US government for the purchase of 31 Predator drones from American defence major General Atomics. Fifteen of these will be deployed with the Navy and eight each with the Air Force and Army.
The deal is significant from the perspective of India-US defence ties and will help fortify India’s borders. These drones can fly for 35 hours non-stop at altitudes of over 40,000 feet and carry four Hellfire missiles as well as 450kg of bombs each.
Their addition to the armoury will bolster India’s surveillance capabilities, especially along its northern front, where Indian troops face harsh conditions in addition to the risk of Chinese hostility.
For effective deterrence, India needs up-to-date battle equipment, including high-tech drones that can both monitor enemy positions and carry out precision strikes.
As artificial intelligence-aided systems start getting deployed, it’s critical not to get left behind. For the sake of India’s strategic autonomy, however, we must accelerate our own research and development in this field.
Drone warfare was predicted to usher in a “revolution in military affairs”, and the conflicts in West Asia and Europe show the advantage conferred by superior unmanned aircraft, with this superiority largely determined by advances in information technology.
As a country with abundant software talent, India must aim to achieve drone self-sufficiency at the earliest. A big defence budget means we can buy arms, but, as with nuclear weapons, the point is to strengthen our sovereignty.