Indian Navy Predator Drone: In a significant step to reduce the high upfront cost of acquiring latest weapon platforms, Indian Navy this month inducted two MQ-9B Sea Guardian drones manufactured by the US defence major General Atomics on lease. These unarmed Sea Guardian drones, a variant of Predator drones, will be used in conducting long range surveillance operations in the Indian Ocean region but can also be deployed in Ladakh on China border, said people familiar with the matter.