India: US-origin MQ-9B drone costing $150mn crashes off Chennai

General Atomics MQ-9B 'Sea Guardian', a sophisticated long-range maritime reconnaissance drone that was being operated on lease by the Indian Navy, crashed off the Chennai coast in southern India, following a mid-flight technical failure. The United States-origin 'Predator' drone that cost around $150 million (approx Rs 1200 crore) was carrying out a routine surveillance mission, after taking off from an Indian Naval Air Station, INS Rajali, near the southern Indian city of Chennai. Notably, India has been negotiating a deal with the US to purchase 31 of these drones for a whopping $4 billion (well over Rs 34,000 crore). It remains to be seen whether this technical failure and recent incidents of these drones being shot down by Houthi rebels will impact this high-profile weapons deal.

According to the Indian Navy, the high-altitude long endurance (HALE) drone encountered a technical failure around 2:00 pm IST, while on a routine surveillance mission, and it could not be reset while flying. "The aircraft was navigated to a safe area over sea and carried out a controlled ditch at sea off Chennai. A detailed report has been sought from the Original Equipment Manufacturer," read the Indian Navy's statement. 

The massive drone weighs well over 4 tons (4,000kg), has a wingspan of 24 metres and measures 11.7 metres in length, and can fly at altitudes of 40,000 feet (which is also the maximum altitude at which most commercial planes fly). It is capable of carrying a wide range of bombs, missiles and sensors, depending on the role that it is deployed for.

According to the American firm General Atomics, the SeaGuardian is designed to fly in day and night conditions, over the horizon via satellite control for over 30 hours (depending on configuration) in all types of weather. This aircraft carries highly versatile maritime patrol and reconnaissance technologies, including a maritime radar, an automatic identification system, electronic support measures, and a self-contained anti-submarine warfare (ASW) mission kit. It is said to be the first drone in its class to enable real-time search and patrol above and below the ocean’s surface.

The firm markets the drone as being capable of undertaking a wide range of missions, such as humanitarian assistance/disaster relief, search and rescue, law enforcement, anti-surface warfare, anti-submarine warfare, airborne mine countermeasures, long-range strategic intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance. 

"This is perhaps a first-of-its-kind mishap in so many years of this drone's operation in the areas of interest in the Indian Ocean region. While this incident has to be taken seriously, we must look at the total number of hours (well more than 10,000-20,000hours) that it has flown, proving its credentials for surveillance. There are no doubts that the operator and manufacturer would work together to identify what the root causes were and implement remedial measures," Commodore RS Vasan (Retd), an Indian Navy Veteran and Director General of Chennai Centre for China Studies told WION. 

The Indian government has been looking to procure 31 of these drones for the country's tri-services, and this deal had been recently cleared by the Indian Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) headed by Indian Defence Minister Rajnath Singh. However, this deal has to also be approved by India's Cabinet Committee on Security, before it can be inked. This potential deal is for 15 MQ-9B SeaGuardian variant drones for the Indian Navy, and eight each of the MQ-9B SkyGuardian variants for the Indian Army and Air Force.