While the Indian Navy will get 15 out of the 31 drones, the Indian Army and the Indian Air Force will get eight each of high altitude long endurance drones from the US

After obtaining the first level of clearance from the relevant US Congressional leadership, the US State Department has formally notified the Congress of a possible foreign military sale of 31 MQ-9B remotely piloted aircraft or drones to the government of India on Thursday

WASHINGTON — The US State Department today notified Congress that it has greenlit the potential sale of 31 MQ-9B SkyGuardian drones and related missiles, bombs and other equipment to India in a deal estimated to be worth just under $4 billion.

On Thursday morning, that the deal had got the first-tier clearance and that the State Department and General Atomics (GA), the manufacturer of the drones, had notified the Indian government, including its top national security leadership, of the progress on the sale.

In a statement later on Thursday, the Defence Security Cooperation Agency said, “The State Department has made a determination approving a possible Foreign Military Sale to the Government of India of MQ-9B Remotely Piloted Aircraft and related equipment for an estimated cost of $3.99 billion. The Defence Security Cooperation Agency delivered the required certification notifying Congress of this possible sale today.” With the Indian government having cleared the purchase of the drones for $3 billion, the statement acknowledges that the actual dollar value of the deal will be lower based on final requirements.

The State Department’s notification to the Congress came after the chair and ranking members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and House Foreign Affairs Committee gave a nod to the deal. This is the first but most important step in the process to get legislative clearance, given the power of the committee leadership that spans across both parties.

Democrat Ben Cardin leads the Senate committee, while Republican James Risch is the ranking member; Republican Michael McCaul is the chair of the House committee while Democrat Gregory Meeks is the ranking member. The Joe Biden administration consulted all four leaders and their teams, responded to their queries and got them on board. This opened the door for the State Department to officially notify the Congress. If there is no objection from members of the Congress within a 30-day time frame, the deal will be understood to have legislative clearance.

The official US government statement said that the proposed sale will “support the foreign policy and national security objectives of the United States by helping to strengthen the US-Indian strategic relationship and to improve the security of a major defence partner which continues to be an important force for political stability, peace, and economic progress in the Indo-Pacific and South Asia region”. It added that the sale will help “improve India’s capability to meet current and future threats by enabling unmanned surveillance and reconnaissance patrols in sea lanes of operation”.

It acknowledged that India had “demonstrated a commitment to modernizing its military” and will have no difficulty “absorbing these articles and services into its armed forces”, while noting that the deal will not affect the military balance in the region, a signal of reassurance to the Congress. “The principal contractor will be General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Poway, CA. The purchaser typically requests offsets. Any offset agreement will be defined in negotiations between the purchaser and the contractor,” the statement added.

The statement also outlined India’s request for the drones and all the related equipment.

After a media report claimed that US Congress had blocked the sale of the deal due to concerns over allegations about the involvement of Indian official in an assassination plot on US soil, the US administration came out in full support of what is widely seen as a milestone in the bilateral defence relationship while the Indian government pointed to the need to respect internal US processes.

In Washington, on Wednesday, when asked about the report, US State Department spokesperson Mathew Miller said, “Generally, the US-India Defence Partnership has seen significant growth over the past decade. The drone deal is a proposed sale that was announced during Prime Minister Modi’s visit last year. We believe it offers significant potential to further advance strategic technology cooperation with India and military cooperation in the region. Congress plays an important role in the US arms transfer process. We routinely consult with the members of Congress on the Foreign Affairs Committees before our formal notification, so we can address questions that they might have.”

A second person familiar with developments in Washington DC said that senior members of the administration, both from the National Security Council and the State Department, had explained the importance of the military sale to the Congressional leadership.

In Delhi, ministry of external affairs spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said, “This particular matter relates to the US side. They have their internal processes in place and we are respectful of that. So that is where I would like to leave my comment,” Jaiswal said. “We have to be respectful [of the US processes], and we are respectful of that,” he added.

While the Indian Navy will get 15 out of the 31 drones, the Indian Army and the Indian Air Force will get eight each of high altitude long endurance drones from the US.

It is understood that the GE-414 engine deal with the US is well on track, with the CEO of the company informing the apex levels of the Modi government and reiterating GE’s commitment. Both the drone and the aircraft engine deals are being handled by the two national security advisors of India and the US, Ajit Doval and Jake Sullivan.

The Indian Navy already operates two unarmed Predator drones from Rajali air base in Tamil Nadu, which are on lease from the US. The two drones have taken Indian maritime domain awareness to a different level as the Indian Navy battles both the Houthi missiles and Somali Pirates in the Red Sea.

“This proposed sale will support the foreign policy and national security objectives of the United States by helping to strengthen the U.S.-Indian strategic relationship and to improve the security of a major defence partner which continues to be an important force for political stability, peace, and economic progress in the Indo-Pacific and South Asia region,” the State Department said in the public notification. The proposed sale will improve India’s capability to meet current and future threats by enabling unmanned surveillance and reconnaissance patrols in sea lanes of operation.”

India’s defence ministry approved the procurement of the General Atomics-made airframes in June, according to Reuters, which also reported the Biden administration had pushed New Delhi over the deal ahead of a state visit by Indian leader Narendra Modi.

During his tenure, US President Joe Biden has pushed for closer defence relations with India, a potential counterweight to American rival China in Asia. In January 2023, the US and India announced a joint Critical and Emerging Technology initiative “to elevate and expand our strategic technology partnership and defence industrial cooperation between governments, businesses, and academic institutions of our two countries.”

Late in 2023 US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin travelled to India, where he signed a new “defence industrial base cooperation roadmap” with the Indian defence minister. That, Assistant Secretary of Defence for Indo-Pacific Security Affairs Ely Ratner told reporters, was a “historic agreement that is setting our countries toward a deeper level of cooperation in an area to which there has been aspiration for decades, and often fits and starts.”

General Atomics describes the MQ-9B SkyGuardian, as well as its maritime brethren the MQ-9B SeaGuardian, as a descendant of the company’s famous MQ-9A Reaper. With a 79-foot wingspan, General Atomics says the MQ-9B “provides enhanced payload capacity and an open architecture system that enables the aircraft to integrate the most advanced sensor payloads for intelligence gathering, survivability, and even kinetic payloads for more complex operational environments.”

The State Department’s approval of a big MQ-9B sale to India comes as General Atomics said it’s working with US officials to clear the way for another large sale, this one for MQ-9Bs to the United Arab Emirates — an estimated $3 billion deal that got wrapped up in a bigger, but more controversial F-35 sale.

Today’s notice to India is not the final word on the sale as prices and unit figures could change as negotiations progress, and lawmakers could always step in to halt the sale.