India is a soft persimmon in international arms purchases, and any country that encounters India will kill them fiercely, everyone knows. Against the backdrop of relatively tense border situations, India spares no effort to acquire weapons to cheer itself up. This leads to a passive position in the procurement of weapons, and the price is very unfavorable for itself. After a series of arms deals, India has not given up. Another huge order for arms sales was placed.
According to a report by the Global Times on September 26, the Indian Ministry of Defense decided to spend $3 billion to purchase 30 MQ-9 Reaper surveillance attack drones from General Atomics. India reportedly needs to deliver 6 of the 30 drones at once. The 6 drones will be immediately divided equally between the army, navy and air force, while another 24 drones will be delivered within the next three years. The Indian media once again enthusiastically cheered the decision. According to the Indian Army, the MQ-9 drone has become a "battlefield game changer." The Indian Navy, which led the purchase, said it would rely on MQ-9 drones in the future to work with the Navy's existing P-8 anti-submarine patrol aircraft and MH-60R anti-submarine drones.
First of all, it is undeniable that the MQ-9 is indeed a technically mature UAV, and its performance is outstanding among similar products worldwide. It has a flight speed of 460 kilometers per hour, a practical ceiling of 15,000 meters, and a flight duration of up to 27 hours. It can be continuously held in the air, providing uninterrupted real-time visual support for battlefield situations, and requires only two ground operators to operate. In terms of armament, it can carry 4 Hellfire anti-tank missiles and 2 230kg laser-guided bombs, which can destroy ground armored targets and carry out precision bombing of bunkers or vehicles. In this year's U.S. beheading operation against Iranian General Suleimani, the MQ-9 drone was used in conjunction with the Hellfire missile to fully demonstrate its precision strike capabilities. At the same time, the MQ-9 can still maintain a cruising at an altitude of 9,000 meters for more than ten hours when fully loaded, which is extremely valuable in the plateau area.
While the MQ-9 is a very good drone, it may not be the most needed equipment in India. The MQ-9 itself is not bad, but when faced with an adversary with full air defense, this UAV is an opponent of a target. MQ-9 is slow and poorly maneuverable. You can only rely on high-altitude flight to avoid attacks from low-tech opponents. When the opponent's radar and field air defense systems are relatively perfect, the "lawn mower" will not have a deterrent effect. In fact, during the war in Yemen, multiple MQ-9s were shot down by the Houthis. In the three years between 2017 and 2019, the Houthis shot down four MQ-9s. If the Houthis were the case, other scenarios would be conceivable. In addition, when the MQ-9 uses weapons to attack, it must reduce its altitude. For example, when using the Hellfire anti-tank missile, the height must be below 4500 meters, which makes it easier to aim.
It can be said that in the combat system of the US military, the MQ-9 is a veritable "Grim Reaper" when facing opponents with no air defense capability or paralyzed air defense capability. But for countries like India that can't provide battlefield air superiority, especially those that don't have enough air defense systems to deal with other countries, the MQ-9 is inadequate. Moreover, this military purchase once again shows that the Indian army has a tendency to exploit itself. The purchase of 30 MQ-9s for $3 billion means a unit price of about $100 million, which is comparable to the unit price of the F-35. Within the U.S. military, although there are differences of opinion on the purchase price of the MQ-9, it is about $16.9 million to $30 million. The purchase price of the Indian army is 3-5 times that of the American army. Previously, India spent $5.4 billion to purchase five S-400 systems from the Russian military. Although its price is high, at least the air defense system is greatly improved. India has now spent $3 billion on a bunch of drones that cannot survive a high-intensity war (the US military's own assessment of the MQ-9). India's arms purchases are indeed not worth the losses.
Compared with India's unit purchase price of $100 million, China's export of the domestically produced Wing Loong-2 UAV with similar performance to the US-made MQ-9 Reaper UAV is simply cabbage. For example, in November 2019, a report by the United Nations Security Council listed weapons transferred by the UAE to Haftar. The Chinese-made Wing Loong-2 UAV is prominent on the list, and the Chinese-made Wing Loong-2 integrated surveillance and attack system is also on the list. A drone with BA-7 and GP-6 missiles costs only $ 2 million. India's purchase of 30 US-made MQ-9 Reaper UAVs cost $3 billion, which can be used to purchase 1,500 Chinese Wing Loong 2 integrated surveillance attack UAVs. Seeing this scene, the Indian army must have fainted.