New Delhi: The United States has cleared the sale of Guardian drones to India after the Modi-Trump meeting in Washington on last Monday, their first bilateral since the US president took office last year.
Here are top facts about this predatory machine:
1/ The Predatory Guardian drones became operational on 1 May 2007.
2/ The drone was first inducted as part of the US Navy's Broad Area Maritime Surveillance (BAMS) programme.
3/ India to purchase 22 naval variants of the unarmed surveillance aircraft. The Indian version of the drone is only for reconnaissance missions.
4/ Abraham Karem is the designer of the drone while General Atomics is the company that produces it.
5/ The Guardian drone can remain in the air for over 27 hours and it can reach a maximum altitude of 50000 feet.
6/ The drone's maximum speed limit is 240 KTAS (True airspeed, in knots).
7/ Its maximum payload carrying capacity is 1,746 kg.
8/ India will be the first country to purchase such a drone by a non-NATO member.
9/ Guardian drones can hunt targets and scan terrain by using multiple sensors that are equipped with thermographic cameras.
10/ The onboard camera is so powerful that it can read a license plate from two miles (3.2 km) away.
