US State Dept okays sale of 31 armed drones to India

US Congress will later take call on it

New Delhi: US State Department has cleared the decks for sale of 31 armed UAV’s – the MQ-9B — to India. These are to be made by General Atomics and are in use across several forces of the world,  a special report by Ajay Banerjee in The Tribune, Chandigarh, says.

The project with ammunition, surveillance, repairs and spare engines will cost an estimated $3.99 billion (approx Rs 32,000 crore).

The Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) delivered the required certification notifying US Congress of this possible sale today, the DSCA said.

Later,  Congress will recommend the sale to US President for final ratification.

India has requested to buy 31 MQ-9B Sky Guardian aircraft. The payload sought by India are a mix and match of offensive equipment and surveillance. The UAV is long range one. It can stay up in the air for 36 hours while tracking any threat.

The DSCA said it has delivered the certification and that includes 170 of the AGM-114R hellfire missiles; sixteen M36E9 hellfire captive air training missiles; 310 laser small diameter bombs; and eight laser guided test vehicles with live fuses.

***********************************************************************

Readers

These are extraordinary times. All of us have to rely on high-impact, trustworthy journalism. And this is especially true of the Indian Diaspora. Members of the Indian community overseas cannot be fed with inaccurate news.

Pravasi Samwad is a venture that has no shareholders. It is the result of an impassioned initiative of a handful of Indian journalists spread around the world.  We have taken the small step forward with the pledge to provide news with accuracy, free from political and commercial influence. Our aim is to keep you, our readers, informed about developments at ‘home’ and across the world that affect you.

Please help us to keep our journalism independent and free.

In these difficult times, to run a news website requires finances. While every contribution, big or small, will makes a difference, we request our readers to put us in touch with advertisers worldwide. It will be a great help.

For more information: pravasisamwad00@gmail.com