Ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s state visit to Washington, the Biden administration is pushing New Delhi to cut through its own red tape and advance a deal for dozens of US-made armed drones, two people familiar with the matter said.
India has long expressed interest in buying large armed drones from the US. But bureaucratic stumbling blocks have hampered for years a hoped-for deal for SeaGuardian drones that could be worth $2 billion to $3 billion.
US negotiators are counting on Modi’s White House visit on June 22 to break the log jam.
Since the date for Modi’s visit was fixed, the US state department, Pentagon and White House have asked India to be able to “show” progress on the deal for as many as 30 armable MQ-9B SeaGuardian drones made by General Atomics, two sources said.
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, state department and the Pentagon declined to comment on the negotiations.
Breaking the 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.
