WASHINGTON 15 June (Online): Sources told that Washington and Biden administration is pushing India ahead of Modi visit to advance deal of US-made dozens armed drones.
Indian PM Modi’s visit to United States is announced to happen next week.
India has expressed interest in buying large armed drones from the United States long ago. But bureaucratic stumbling blocks have hampered a hoped-for deal for SeaGuardian drones that could be worth $2 billion to $3bn for years.
US negotiators are seeking to break this log jam during next week PM Modi visit.
Since the visit date fixed, US state department and Pentagon asked India to show progress on deal for as many as 30 armable MQ-9B SeaGuardian drone of made by General Atomics.
Modi and Biden are also expected to discuss co-production of munitions and ground vehicles, like armoured personnel carriers, while Modi is in Washington, the sources said.
Spokespeople for the White House, Department of State and the Pentagon declined to comment on the negotiations.
President Joe Biden has made deepening ties with India a cornerstone of his policy to counter China’s growing influence, placing special attention this year on collaboration on advanced military technologies, despite their lack of a formal security alliance.
New Delhi, which often prizes its non-alignment in conflicts between great powers abroad, has frustrated Washington by maintaining some defence and economic ties with Russia after the invasion of Ukraine.
Breaking India’s bureaucratic log jam on drones hinges on an internal meeting to generate an “Acceptance of Necessity” document, an Indian precursor to a formal “Letter of Request” which kicks off the foreign military sale process.
As of Tuesday, the sources did not know if New Delhi had generated the necessary internal document.
“That’s gonna be a decision that the government of India needs to make,” said a senior Biden administration official. “We think it would be good for them to go through with the purchase of MQ-9s. But those decisions are sort of more in the hands of India than they are of us.” The topic was expected to be on the agenda as Biden’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, arrived in New Delhi on Tuesday to finalise preparations ahead of Modi’s visit.
As of last week, India’s defence ministry had still not made up its mind about the number of drones it wants to buy, according to a person familiar with the discussions. Earlier, the number was pegged at 30, but that was later revised to 24, and then further down to 18 last month. Sources cautioned that none of the numbers were final.
India is also seeking components of the equipment to be domestically manufactured, something that could complicate any deal.
The Quad grouping of countries — the United States, India, Australia and Japan — all operate, or have operated, the MQ-9B SeaGuardian. Currently, India is leasing MQ-9Bs as part of an intelligence-gathering operation.
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