Indian Navy Leases Two More MQ-9B SeaGuardians in $200 Million, 30-Month Deal
The Indian Navy has turned to leasing once again to avoid a break in long-range maritime surveillance coverage over the Indian Ocean. Under a contract signed on 17 August 2026, two MQ-9B SeaGuardian unmanned aircraft have been leased from General Atomics Aeronautical Systems (GA-ASI) for 30 months. The deal is worth ₹1,943 crore, roughly $200 million.
The aircraft will operate under a Contractor Owned Contractor Operated (COCO) model. Ownership and technical sustainment stay with the manufacturer; the user buys flight hours and mission output rather than the platform itself.
A four-aircraft transition period
The Indian Navy has been operating two MQ-9Bs under the same arrangement since 2020, with the contract extended several times. The new agreement takes the fleet to four aircraft during the overlap window. The platforms fly from INS Rajali naval air station in southern India.
The leasing record has not been trouble-free. On 18 September 2024 one of the leased aircraft was ditched off the coast of Chennai after a technical failure. Under the contract terms, GA-ASI delivered a replacement by February 2025.
Bridging to the 31-aircraft programme
Behind the lease sits the far larger MQ-9B purchase signed in October 2024. That package covers 31 aircraft: 15 SeaGuardians for the Navy, eight for the Army and eight SkyGuardians for the Air Force. The total estimated cost in the U.S. State Department notification approached $4 billion. Deliveries are scheduled to begin in 2029.
That three-year gap is precisely what the lease exists to cover. India wants crew training, mission doctrine and ground support infrastructure in place before the purchased aircraft arrive, and leasing gives operators early familiarity with the platform.
Industrial groundwork is under way as well. GA-ASI and India’s Larsen & Toubro announced a strategic partnership in October 2025 for domestic manufacture of medium-altitude long-endurance (MALE) unmanned aircraft, aimed at moving maintenance and sustainment in-country over the longer term.
What the MQ-9B SeaGuardian brings
The MQ-9B is General Atomics’ next-generation derivative of the MQ-9 Reaper family, and SeaGuardian is its maritime surveillance variant. It carries a 360-degree maritime search radar, an Automatic Identification System (AIS) receiver and an electro-optical/infrared sensor turret. With a sonobuoy dispenser fitted, it can also contribute to anti-submarine warfare.
Endurance beyond 40 hours is one of the type’s defining features. Another is that it is designed to meet NATO’s STANAG 4671 airworthiness standard, which eases clearance to fly in civil airspace.
What it means in the Indian Ocean
India’s maritime surveillance priority has sharpened in recent years. The People’s Liberation Army Navy’s presence in the Indian Ocean, the base at Djibouti and the activity of Chinese survey ships have all increased New Delhi’s monitoring requirement. Added to that is the concentration of piracy and drone attacks across the Gulf of Aden and the Arabian Sea through 2023 and 2024.
The MQ-9B complements rather than replaces the P-8I Poseidon. The Poseidon is an expensive, crewed asset; handing routine wide-area search to an unmanned platform frees crewed aircraft for higher-value tasking.
Türkiye has taken a different route to the same requirement. The Turkish Naval Forces have moved toward domestic platforms for maritime patrol and surveillance: TUSAŞ’s Aksungur is in service in a maritime patrol configuration, with sonobuoy integration work under way. The Bayraktar TB3, meanwhile, achieved a world first by taking off from and landing on the deck of TCG Anadolu. Where India bridges with leases and imports, Türkiye is meeting the same line item through domestic production — two navies planning similar missions in adjacent waters on opposite procurement logic.
Sources
- Indian Ministry of Defence — MQ-9B lease contract, 17 August 2026
- General Atomics Aeronautical Systems (GA-ASI) — MQ-9B SeaGuardian programme data and the L&T partnership announcement, October 2025
- U.S. Department of State / DSCA — notification on the sale of 31 MQ-9B aircraft, 2024
