India, Aug. 17 -- The Ministry of Defence has signed a contract with General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. (GA-ASI) to lease 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.

The agreement was signed in the presence of Additional Secretary and Director General (Acquisition), Department of Defence, A. Anbarasu, at Kartavya Bhawan-2 in New Delhi on August 17, 2026.

The MQ-9B Sea Guardian HALE RPAS is equipped with advanced systems, state-of-the-art sensors and sophisticated payloads designed to significantly enhance the Indian Navy's Maritime Domain Awareness (MDA) capabilities.

Th...