The US approves a $4 billion deal to sell UAVs to India: State Department

The U.S. State Department has approved the sale of 31 MQ-9B SkyGuardian military drones  and related equipment to India worth almost $4 billion. Reuters writes about this with reference to the Pentagon, UNN reports.

According to the Pentagon, the main contractor will be General Atomics Aeronautical Systems.

Details

The Pentagon's Defense Security Cooperation Agency notified Congress of the possible sale on Thursday, February 1.

It is worth noting that India expressed interest in purchasing large defense drones from the United States back in 2018. However, bureaucratic difficulties prevented the expected deal. The publication noted that talks on the purchase of unarmed versions of UAVs had been going on even longer.

However, officials note that the State Department's approval does not mean that the deal will go through. But it undoubtedly demonstrates some progress as the United States continues its campaign to persuade India to stop buying Russian military equipment.

The approval of the deal by the State Department signals that the deal is likely to remove one stumbling block - approval by the leaders of the US Congressional committees.

Senator Ben Cardin, a Democrat who chairs the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said he ended his "abstention" from the deal after President Joe Biden's administration agreed to fully investigate a plot to kill Indians on U.S. soil.

The (Biden) administration has called for an investigation and prosecution of collusion here in the United States, as well as prosecution in India for these types of activities. 

On the eve of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's state visit to Washington last June, before the collusion was revealed, the Biden administration pushed New Delhi to overcome its own red tape and move the deal forward.

Optional

India is currently leasing several MQ-9B UAVs as part of an intelligence gathering operation.

The future deal includes sophisticated communications and surveillance equipment, 170 AGM-114R Hellfire missiles and 310 small-diameter laser bombs, and a precision-guided planning bomb.