New Delhi: A week before Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s first ever state visit to the US, the Ministry of Defence at long last approved the $3-billion deal Thursday, under which India will buy 30 MQ-9B Predator drones from US' defence conglomerate General Atomics Global Corporation under a government-to-government deal.
The deal was cleared by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh at a meeting of the Defence Acquisition Council (DAC). This will now have to be approved by the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS), which will happen “before” Modi embarks for the US trip, official sources told ABP Live.
The deal has given a "much-needed boost" to the US-India defence ties "opening up a new chapter" even as both sides continue to align their geopolitical and security interests more closely, sources said.
The sources added that the deal will be officially announced during Modi’s visit to Washington after his bilateral meeting with US President Joe Biden on June 21.
Another deal that will find prominence during the talks between PM Modi and President Biden is that of General Electric’s (GE) plan to produce F414 fighter jet engines in India under ‘Make in India’ initiative.
The negotiations for both these were pushed towards the finishing line during the visit of US Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin to India earlier this month. ABP Live had reported it first that the deals will be finalised during Austin’s trip.
The deal to purchase Predator drones — ‘SkyGuardian’ and ‘SeaGuardian’ — both variants of MQ-9B from the US was being negotiated under the Foreign Military Sales (FMS) programme of the US Department of Defence.
The talks began after the Narendra Modi government expressed its interest to procure the weaponised unmanned aerial vehicles for all three services — Army, Navy and Air Force — at the ‘US-India 2+2 Talks’ dialogue that took place in Washington DC in April 2022.
But, since then, the talks lacked momentum in the absence of a US Ambassador to India. However, negotiations escalated as the new US Ambassador to India Eric Garcetti took charge in May.
The talks were given a final shape by Defence Secretary Giridhar Aramane and US Under Secretary of Defence for Policy Colin Kahl, who co-chaired the 17th meeting of India-US Defence Policy Group (DPG) in Washington DC in May.
UAVs To Be Deployed At China Border
The government plans to deploy the UAVs in an effort to “strengthen its presence and boost surveillance” in sensitive sectors of the Line of Actual Control (LAC) with China as well as in the maritime domain, the sources quoted above said.
Apart from intelligence, surveillance or military systems, these drones also carry other forms of payloads, including communications relays, that enable it to act as a node connecting forces operating in land and sea at the same time.
General Atomics has also signed a strategic partnership pact with Bharat Forge to manufacture the UAVs in India.
In an exclusive interview to the ABP Live, Vivek Lall, Chief Executive, General Atomics Global Corporation, had said that model selected for the Indian market is the “most advanced” and that it will “enable its Indian military users to fly farther than anything else in this category, spend more time in the air and handle a greater diversity of missions than any other similar aircraft.”
The California-based defence firm is keen on supporting the government’s ‘Atmanirbhar’ or self-reliance programme in the defence sector.