MQ-9B Sea Guardians to Boost Indian Navy’s Maritime Surveillance Across Indian Ocean
New Delhi: Indian Navy’s Maritime Domain Awareness capabilities will soon get a major boost with the deployment of MQ-9B Sea Guardian High-Altitude Long-Endurance (HALE) Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems (RPAS). The Ministry of Defence on 17th August has signed a contract with General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. (GA-ASI) for the leasing of two MQ-9B Sea Guardian High-Altitude Long-Endurance (HALE) Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems (RPAS) for the Indian Navy for a period of 30 months. The contract is valued at approximately Rs 1,943 crore. It was signed in the presence of Additional Secretary & Director General (Acquisition), Department of Defence, A. Anbarasu, at Kartavya Bhawan-2, New Delhi on August 17, 2026. The MQ-9B Sea Guardian HALE RPAS, equipped with advanced systems, state-of-the-art sensors and sophisticated payloads, will significantly enhance the Indian Navy’s Maritime Domain Awareness capabilities. The systems will provide persistent Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance coverage over vast areas of the maritime domain, strengthening India’s ability to monitor and respond to developments across the Indian Ocean Region.
In a major boost to make in India vision and Atmanirvar Bharat in defence production, the Department of Defence Production (DDP), Ministry of Defence has notified the sixth Positive Indigenisation List (PIL) comprising 405 strategically important items with an estimated business potential of Rs 3,070 crore. The list contains Line Replaceable Units, sub-systems, sub-assemblies, spares, components and raw materials. These include 16 items of the Indian Coast Guard (ICG) and 389 items of Defence Public Sector Undertakings (DPSUs). The items cover a broad range of defence platforms and systems, including- Air platforms such as Advanced Light Helicopter, Light Utility Helicopter, Su-30MKI, Light Combat Aircraft and AL-31FP Engine, Armoured platforms including T-72, T-90 and BMP-II, Warships, Missile systems such as Konkurs-M, Invar and MRSAM, Defence electronics including radars, sonars, fire control systems and satellite communication systems, High Explosive Anti-Tank ammunition and other critical defence equipment. Each item has an indicative timeline for indigenisation. Upon successful indigenous development, these items will be procured from the Indian industry.
The DPSUs and ICG will undertake indigenisation through various routes, including their ‘Make’ procedure and in-house development, with participation from the industry, particularly MSMEs. This sixth PIL marks another step in the Government’s efforts to promote self-reliance in defence manufacturing under the Aatmanirbhar Bharat initiative. It is expected to further expand opportunities for the Indian industry, strengthen the domestic defence manufacturing ecosystem, promote investment & innovation, and contribute to reducing dependence on imports. The DDP launched the SRIJAN Defence Portal in August 2020 as a dedicated platform through which the DPSUs and Service Headquarters (SHQs) offer defence items to the industry, including MSMEs and start-ups, for indigenous development and production. Since its launch, the portal has facilitated the offer of more than 33,000 defence items for indigenisation by DPSUs and SHQs up to June 2026.
These include 5,012 items notified under the first five Positive Indigenisation Lists. More than 15,700 defence items have been successfully indigenised, resulting in an estimated import substitution value of about Rs 9,000 crore over the last five years. In addition, DPSUs have placed procurement orders, including in-house production, worth approximately Rs 10,000 crore on domestic vendors up to March 2026.
© Bharat Prakashan (Delhi) Limited. Tech-enabled by Ananthapuri Technologies
© Bharat Prakashan (Delhi) Limited. Tech-enabled by Ananthapuri Technologies