A top US Senator has strongly pushed for selling the state-of-the-art guardian drones to India which "is going to be the next great thing of defence collaboration" between both countries.
Democrat Senator Mark Warner and his Republican colleague in the Senate Dan Sullivan, during a programme here asserted that the erstwhile Obama Administration and the US Congress designating India as a major defence partner is a significant step forward in taking the India-US relationship to the new level.
Originally India sought to acquire the maritime patrol UAVs, but there is a possibility of enlarging the scope of the order to include the over land version. The 22 multimission General Atomics Guardian (a maritime variant of the Predator B) unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) for the Indian Navy (IN) via the foreign military sales (FMS) route were what India ordered in June. They are seen as a force multiplier in terms of maritime surveillance.
The US is likely to respond positively to India’s request for 22 unarmed multi- mission Predator Guardian drones for maritime surveillance, especially in the Indian Ocean, people familiar with the matter said.
The move comes after India was designated a major defence partner of the US in June.
Within weeks of that designation, after Prime Minister Narendra Modi met US President Barack Obama at the White House in early June, the Indian Navy had sent an official letter of request (LoR) in February to the department of defence towards purchase of 22 high-tech multi-mission Predator Guardian unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV).
This was the first major request of arms sale purchase by India after Obama designated New Delhi as a major strategic defence partner. The US government has not made a formal decision on it yet, but is believed to have started an inter agency process on the Indian request.
People familiar with the matter said the administration believes that an approval of such a major military sale would help in “sealing Indian US defence relationship”, bring in “a new level of comfort” between the two militaries and would be considered as a lasting legacy not only for India but also for the Asia-Pacific pivot of the outgoing president.
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Officials believe the sale of predator Guardian UAVs would act as a force multiplier for India’s maritime surveillance capabilities in the Indian Ocean region, which of late has become one of the key American objective in the Asia Pacific region.
People in the governmental who are close to the development confirmed that defence minister Manohar Parrikar and US defence secretary Ashton Carter had detailed discussions on the Predator Guardian UAV to fulfil maritime surveillance requirements.
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