WASHINGTON – The United States has offered India the armed version ofGuardian drones that were originally authorized for sale as unarmed forsurveillance purposes, a senior US official and an industry source toldReuters.
If the deal comes to fruition, it would be the first time Washington hassold a large armed drone to a country outside the NATO alliance.
It would also be the first high-tech unmanned aircraft in the region, wheretensions between India and Pakistan run high.
In April, President Donald Trump’s administration rolled out a long-awaitedoverhaul of US arms export policy aimed at expanding sales to allies,saying it would bolster the American defense industry and create jobs athome.
The plan included a new drone export policy that allowed lethal drones thatcan fire missiles, and surveillance drones of all sizes, to be more widelyavailable to allies.
One administrative hurdle to the deal is that Washington is requiring Indiato sign up to a communications framework that some in New Delhi worry mightbe too intrusive, the U.S. official said.
The drones were on the agenda at a canceled meeting between Indian and theUS ministers of state and defense that was set for July, the sources said.The top level meeting is now expected to take place in September.
Last June, General Atomics said the US government had approved the sale ofa naval variant of the drone. India has been in talks to buy 22 of theunarmed surveillance aircraft, MQ-9B Guardian, worth more than $2 billionto keep watch over the Indian Ocean.
Besides potentially including the armed version of the drone, the sourcessaid the number of aircraft had also changed.
An Indian defense source said the military wanted a drone not just forsurveillance but also to be able to hunt down targets at land and sea. Themilitary had argued the costs of acquisition did not justify buying anunarmed drone.
The cost and integration of the weapons system are still issues, as well asIndian assent to the Communications Compatibility and Security Agreement(COMCASA) which Washington insists on as a condition for operating advanceddefense systems.
India, the defense source said, has shed its opposition to the agreementafter an assurance from the United States it would apply largely toU.S-procured weapons systems such as fighter planes and drones and not tothe large Russian-origin equipment with the Indian military.
US drone manufacturers, facing growing competition overseas, especiallyfrom Chinese and Israeli rivals which often sell under lighterrestrictions, have lobbied hard for the changes in US export rules.
Among the changes will be a more lenient application by the US governmentof an arms export principle known as “presumption of denial.” This hasimpeded many drone deals by automatically denying approval unless acompelling security reason is given together with strict buyer agreementsto use the weapons in accordance with international law.
A second US official said the new policy would “change our calculus” byeasing those restrictions on whether to allow any given sale.
The MTCR – a 1987 missile-control pact signed by the United States and 34other countries – will still require strict export controls onPredator-type drones, which it classifies as Category 1, those with apayload of over 1,100 pounds (500 kg).
However, the Trump administration is seeking to renegotiate the MTCR accordto eventually make it easier to export the larger armed drones.
The head of Pentagon’s Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) toldReuters at the Farnborough Airshow that he was unable to comment on anypending deals that had not been notified to Congress.