Rejecting “speculative reports” on social media with regard to the price and other terms of purchase of the 31 MQ-9B High Altitude Long Endurance (HALE) Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) from the U.S., the Ministry of Defence (MoD) on June 25 said the estimated cost provided by the U.S. Government is $3.072 billion but the price and other terms and conditions of the purchase are “yet to be finalised”. The MoD will “compare the acquisition cost with the best price offered” by General Atomics (GA) to other countries, it said.
The Defence Acquisition Council accorded the Acceptance of Necessity (AoN) on June 15 for the acquisition of 31 MQ-9B — 16 Sky Guardian and 15 Sea Guardian — UAVs for the three services through the Foreign Military Sale (FMS) route. The AoN included the number of UAVs to be procured along with associated equipment.
“The AoN noted the estimated cost of $3,072 million provided by the U.S. Government. However, price will be negotiated once policy approval of the U.S. Government is received. The MoD will compare the acquisition cost with the best price offered by General Atomics (GA) to other countries,” a Ministry statement said. “The procurement is in progress and would be completed as per the laid down procedure.”
