A high-altitude long-endurance MQ-9B Sea Guardian drone that was taken on lease by the Indian Navy encountered a "technical failure" on Wednesday while on a surveillance mission, officials said. The drone was operating from naval air station INS Rajali in Arakkonam near Chennai.

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.

Incident occurred in Indian ocean where drone, controlled from Tamil Nadu naval base was deployed for reconnaissance

According to a report by Hindustan Times, the Navy said, "A high-altitude long endurance remotely piloted aircraft (HALE RPA) leased by the Indian Navy operating from INS Rajali, Arakkonam (near Chennai) encountered a technical failure at about 1400 hours whilst on a routine surveillance mission which could not be reset in flight."

The MQ-9B drone is a variant of the MQ-9 'Reaper' which was used to launch a modified version of the Hellfire missile that eliminated al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri in the heart of Kabul in July 2022.

An MQ-9B Sea Guardian drone, leased by the Indian Navy, encountered a technical failure during a surveillance mission near Chennai and was safely ditched at sea without any injuries. This event occurs as India is finalizing plans to acquire 31 MQ-9B Predator drones from the U.

The massive drone weighs well over 4 tons (4,000kg), has a wingspan of 24 metres and measures 11.7 metres in length, and can fly at altitudes of 40,000 feet (which is also the maximum altitude at which most commercial planes fly).