The Joe Biden administration on Thursday informed the US Congress about the proposed sale of 31 MQ-9B Hale armed drones. Due to which a period of informal review was approved. Concerns had grown that the deal was in some kind of danger. Now Congress has 30 days to either give green signal to this agreement without doing anything or reject it through Congress vote. No effort has been made yet to “stop” this. But a person familiar with the developments said, “The clock starts now.”
The $3 billion deal was announced by President Joe Biden and Prime Minister Narendra Modi in June 2023 with joint production of GE jet engines in India. There were many other announcements, but clearly these two were the most important. In particular, the Sea Guardian deal, which began during the administration of President Donald Trump and was under negotiation for several years.
Of the 31 MQ-9B UAVs, 15 are Sea Guardians for the Indian Navy. There are eight for the Indian Air Force and also eight for the Indian Army. Currently, India is using two armed drones which are owned by the company under a company-operated lease agreement. These drones are being used by America, Italy, France, Britain, Spain, Netherlands, Japan and Belgium.
India is purchasing these drones under a government-to-government deal through a process called Foreign Military Sales (FMS). Which must be approved by Congress after the statutory period of 15,30 or 45 days.
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