<p>New Delhi: The Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) on Wednesday approved procurement of 31 Predator long-endurance drones from the US and indigenous construction of two nuclear-powered conventional submarines with an aim to significantly enhance India's military prowess, people familiar with the matter said.</p>.<p>The MQ-9B 'hunter killer' drones are being procured from US defence major General Atomics under the foreign military sales route at a total cost of around USD 3.1 billion.</p>.<p>The two submarines will be built at a cost of around Rs 40,000 crore, the people cited above said.</p>.<p>The two mega procurement projects were cleared by the CCS chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.</p>.<p>India is acquiring the drones primarily to crank up the surveillance apparatus of the armed forces, especially along the contested frontier with China.</p>.Rajnath Singh to inaugurate DefConnect 4.0 event in Delhi.<p>In June last year, the Defence Ministry approved the procurement of the MQ-9B Predator armed drones from the US under a government-to-government framework.</p>.<p>The MQ-9B drone is a variant of the MQ-9 "Reaper" which was used to launch a modified version of the Hellfire missile that eliminated al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri in the heart of Kabul in July 2022.</p>.<p>While the Navy will get 15 Sea Guardian drones, the Indian Air Force and the Army will each get eight Sky Guardian drones.</p>.<p>The high-altitude long-endurance drones are capable of remaining airborne for over 35 hours and can carry four Hellfire missiles and around 450 kgs of bombs.</p>.<p>The Sea Guardian drones are being procured as they can carry out a variety of roles including maritime surveillance, anti-submarine warfare and over-the-horizon targeting among others.</p>.<p>The high-altitude long-endurance drones are capable of remaining airborne for over 35 hours and can carry four Hellfire missiles and around 450 kgs of bombs.</p>
<p>New Delhi: The Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) on Wednesday approved procurement of 31 Predator long-endurance drones from the US and indigenous construction of two nuclear-powered conventional submarines with an aim to significantly enhance India's military prowess, people familiar with the matter said.</p>.<p>The MQ-9B 'hunter killer' drones are being procured from US defence major General Atomics under the foreign military sales route at a total cost of around USD 3.1 billion.</p>.<p>The two submarines will be built at a cost of around Rs 40,000 crore, the people cited above said.</p>.<p>The two mega procurement projects were cleared by the CCS chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.</p>.<p>India is acquiring the drones primarily to crank up the surveillance apparatus of the armed forces, especially along the contested frontier with China.</p>.Rajnath Singh to inaugurate DefConnect 4.0 event in Delhi.<p>In June last year, the Defence Ministry approved the procurement of the MQ-9B Predator armed drones from the US under a government-to-government framework.</p>.<p>The MQ-9B drone is a variant of the MQ-9 "Reaper" which was used to launch a modified version of the Hellfire missile that eliminated al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri in the heart of Kabul in July 2022.</p>.<p>While the Navy will get 15 Sea Guardian drones, the Indian Air Force and the Army will each get eight Sky Guardian drones.</p>.<p>The high-altitude long-endurance drones are capable of remaining airborne for over 35 hours and can carry four Hellfire missiles and around 450 kgs of bombs.</p>.<p>The Sea Guardian drones are being procured as they can carry out a variety of roles including maritime surveillance, anti-submarine warfare and over-the-horizon targeting among others.</p>.<p>The high-altitude long-endurance drones are capable of remaining airborne for over 35 hours and can carry four Hellfire missiles and around 450 kgs of bombs.</p>