The Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) approved procurement of 31 Predator long-endurance drones from US and indigenous construction of two nuclear-powered conventional submarines with an aim to significantly enhance India’s military prowess, people familiar with the matter said.

The MQ-9B ‘hunter killer’ drones are being procured from US defence major General Atomics under the foreign military sales route at a total cost of around USD 3.1 billion. The two submarines will be built at a cost of around Rs 40,000 crore, the people cited above said. The two mega procurement projects were cleared by the CCS chaired by PM Narendra Modi.