US approves $4bn India drone deal
The US approved a $4 billion sale of state-of-the-art drones to India, eager to modernize its military in the face of China, after a delay following an alleged assassination plot on US soil.
The sale marks a milestone in Indian purchases of American weapons.
Indian officials had discussed the drones during a state visit by Prime Minister Narendra Modi last year at the invitation of President Joe Biden.
After months of discussion with US lawmakers and India, the State Department formally informed Congress of the sale, which includes 31 MQ-9B Sky Guardians, the most advanced among the Predator drones built by General Atomics.
“The proposed sale will improve India’s capability to meet current and future threats by enabling unmanned surveillance and reconnaissance patrols in sea lanes of operation,” a State Department statement said.
“India has demonstrated a commitment to modernizing its military and will have no difficulty absorbing these articles and services into its armed forces.”
While India had long enjoyed wide support in the US Congress, the mega-deal faced a holdup in Congress after US prosecutors alleged a plot to kill a Sikh separatist leader with US citizenship in New York.
Congress still has 30 days to block the sale, although most observers expect it to go through.
“The notification gets the sale back on track, but it could still encounter choppy seas in Congress. The assassination allegations against India continue to cast a shadow over US-India relations,” said Michael Kugelman, director of the Wilson Center’s South Asia Institute.
“Strategic imperatives tend to carry the day in this partnership, and that will likely ensure the sale eventually goes through, but one can’t rule out the possibility of some hiccups during the finalization process,” he said.
In New Delhi, foreign ministry spokesman Randhir Jaiswal told reporters the US was following its “internal processes” on the sale.
The Sea Guardians can monitor the seas as well as submarines and can remain airborne for 35 hours at a time, fire Hellfire missiles, and carry around 450kg of bombs.
The Indian Navy has already been operating two Predator drones on lease through which it has monitored the Arabian Sea to protect ships from attacks by Yemen’s Huthi rebels and Somali pirates.
In 2019, India broke the precedent by crossing into Pakistani airspace to strike an alleged militant training camp.
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