Indian Army Using Navy's MQ-9A Drones To Monitor Chinese Forces Deployed Along Line Of Actual Control

India is deploying its leased General Atomics MQ-9A unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to monitor Chinese military deployments and infrastructure development along the Line of Actual Control (LAC).

Publicly available mission flight data accessed by open source intelligence analyst Damien Symon shows that the drones, which are based at INS Rajali in Tamil Nadu, have been deployed along the LAC.

India leased two MQ-9As from the US-based General Atomics at the peak of the stand-off with China in eastern Ladakh in 2020.

General Atomics provided the drones under a Company-Owned, Company-Operated (COCO) lease agreement. The company says that it operates the aircraft on behalf of the Indian Navy.

The MQ-9A is a turboprop-powered, multi-mission RPA developed and first flown by GA-ASI in 2001. It offers unmatched operational flexibility with a 27-hour endurance, speeds of 240 KTAS, and the ability to operate at altitudes up to 50,000 feet. It also has a payload capacity of 3,850 pounds, including 3,000 pounds of external stores.

The aircraft carries 500 per cent more payload and has nine times the horsepower of its predecessor, providing a long-endurance, persistent surveillance and strike capability for military operations.

According to reports, the drone can provide 'live feeds' of the picture on the ground to the Indian Army. India has also used the drone to monitor Chinese activities in the Indian Ocean amid the growing presence of the People's Liberation Army Navy.

In the past, India has used the P-8I maritime surveillance aircraft of the Navy to keep an eye on Chinese movements along the LAC.

The P-8Is come equipped with the AN/APY-10 radar, which its maker Raytheon describes as a "maritime, littoral and overland surveillance radar." In the synthetic aperture and inverse synthetic-aperture modes, the AN/APY-10 radar can penetrate through clouds and foliage to give detailed images of the surface below.

Images produced by the radar give details such as the size of objects and structures on the surface, movement, and change.

The Indian Navy was the first international customer of Boeing's P-8 aircraft. Twelve of these aircraft are already in service with the Indian Navy, with the latest one delivered in February this year.

The Indian Navy commissioned its second squadron of P-8I long-range maritime reconnaissance aircraft earlier this year.

The Navy, reports say, plans to have a total of 22 of these aircraft in the next few years to keep an eye on Chinese activity in the Indian Ocean region, most notably its submarines.

Aldo Read: Explained: Why Navy's P-8I Submarine-Hunting Aircraft Was Seen Heading Towards China Border