WASHINGTON
\nSources told that Washington and Biden administration is pushing India ahead of Modi visit to advance deal of US-made dozens armed drones.
\nIndian PM Modi\u2019s visit to United States is announced to happen next week.
\nIndia 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.
\nUS negotiators are seeking to break this log jam during next week PM Modi visit.
\nSince 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.
\nModi 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.
\nSpokespeople for the White House, Department of State and the Pentagon declined to comment on the negotiations.
\nPresident Joe Biden has made deepening ties with India a cornerstone of his policy to counter China\u2019s growing influence, placing special attention this year on collaboration on advanced military technologies, despite their lack of a formal security alliance.
\nNew 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.
\nBreaking India\u2019s bureaucratic log jam on drones hinges on an internal meeting to generate an \u201cAcceptance of Necessity\u201d document, an Indian precursor to a formal \u201cLetter of Request\u201d which kicks off the foreign military sale process.
\nAs of Tuesday, the sources did not know if New Delhi had generated the necessary internal document.
\n\u201cThat\u2019s gonna be a decision that the government of India needs to make,\u201d said a senior Biden administration official. \u201cWe 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.\u201d The topic was expected to be on the agenda as Biden\u2019s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, arrived in New Delhi on Tuesday to finalise preparations ahead of Modi\u2019s visit.
\nAs of last week, India\u2019s 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.
\nIndia is also seeking components of the equipment to be domestically manufactured, something that could complicate any deal.
\nThe Quad grouping of countries \u2014 the United States, India, Australia and Japan \u2014 all operate, or have operated, the MQ-9B SeaGuardian. Currently, India is leasing MQ-9Bs as part of an intelligence-gathering operation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
WASHINGTON 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\u2019s 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 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":337985,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-337967","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n