A high-altitude-long-endurance MQ-9B Sea Guardian drone that was taken on lease by the Indian Navy from the US ditched into the Bay of Bengal off Chennai after encountering a technical failure on Wednesday. The drone was operating from naval air station INS Rajali in Arakkonam near Chennai, the Indian Navy said.
In 2020, the Indian Navy had taken on lease two MQ-9B Sea Guardian drones from American defence major General Atomics for a period of one year for surveillance in the Indian Ocean. The lease period has been extended subsequently.