Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and his US counterpart Lloyd Austin discussed wide range of defence and strategic issues during bilateral talks in New Delhi on Friday.
It is likely that India will get American ‘MQ-9B’ combat drones soon as the US Defence Secretary Austin assured that his government is making continuous efforts in this direction.
Defence experts say that American drones have the capability to fly at a height of up to 40,000 feet. Besides the ability to fly at significant heights, these drones are equipped with weapons and can also be used for intelligence gathering and surveillance.
These unmanned aircraft can be used for early warning, electronic warfare, anti-surface warfare and anti-submarine warfare. An important feature of these drones is that they can fly for about 30 to 40 hours at a time without being affected by any kind of weather, they add.
Austin said: “During the meeting, we discussed the security challenges and the threat posed. However, the entire conversation did not focus solely on these issues.”