The Ministry of Defence signed a fresh MQ-9B Sea Guardian lease with General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc on Monday, bringing two more High Altitude Long Endurance remotely piloted aircraft to the Indian Navy. The contract runs for 30 months and is valued at approximately Rs 1,943 crore.

The signing took place at Kartavya Bhawan-2 in New Delhi in the presence of Additional Secretary and Director General (Acquisition), Department of Defence, Shri A Anbarasu.


What the release says

According to the Ministry of Defence, the two MQ-9B Sea Guardian systems come equipped with advanced systems, sensors and payloads that will strengthen the Navy's Maritime Domain Awareness. The aircraft are expected to provide persistent Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance coverage over large stretches of the maritime domain, adding to India's ability to track developments across the Indian Ocean Region.

No induction date, base of operation or squadron assignment was named in the release.

A lease, not a purchase

The two aircraft are being leased rather than bought outright, the same arrangement under which the Navy has operated Sea Guardians since 2020. That distinguishes this contract from the tri-service MQ-9B purchase signed with the United States government in October 2024, under which General Atomics builds and delivers the airframes rather than leasing them.

The Navy has flown Sea Guardians before

The Navy's first two leased Sea Guardians entered service in 2020. One was lost in the Bay of Bengal in September 2024 after a technical failure, a loss IDW has previously reported alongside other setbacks to the Navy's long-endurance unmanned fleet.

Monday's contract restores that leased fleet to two aircraft, filling the gap left by the September 2024 loss.

MQ-9B Sea Guardian lease bridges a longer wait

The lease sits ahead of a much larger tri-service acquisition. India signed a government-to-government deal with the United States in October 2024 for 31 MQ-9B drones at a cost of around Rs 32,000 crore, with 15 Sea Guardians going to the Navy and the remaining 16 Sky Guardians split between the Army and the Air Force. First deliveries under that programme are not due before January 2029, with the full fleet arriving by September 2030. The interim MQ-9B Sea Guardian lease signed on Monday gives the Navy maritime coverage while that wait plays out.

Unmanned procurement is moving on separate tracks elsewhere too. The Indian Coast Guard has floated its own tender for Medium Altitude Long Endurance drones, and the wider tri-service unmanned programme covered in IDW's report on the 87-aircraft UAV deal remains under evaluation.

Built for the maritime mission

General Atomics markets the Sea Guardian as a naval-optimised variant of its SkyGuardian airframe, fitted with surface-search radar and, on some configurations, anti-submarine warfare sensors. The company says the aircraft is designed to meet NATO's STANAG 4671 airworthiness standard, letting it operate alongside civil air traffic rather than in segregated military airspace alone.