Garima Sharma, Pune
On Saturday, PM Modi met President Joe Biden on the sidelines of Quad Summit in Delaware to discuss the key areas of India-US Strategic Partnership that also included the procurement of 31 MQ-9B Predator Drones. The value of this defense agreement is approximately $3.99 billion that reflects the commitment of both the nations in enhancing their military ties.
The MQ-9B drones are manufactured by General Atomics and are set to enhance India’s Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) capabilities and defense infrastructure. This deal also highlights the strategic partnership between India-US that has evolved over the years especially in the Indo-Pacific region. Both the leaders also noted the remarkable progress achieved under the US-India defense infrastructure cooperation roadmap in a joint fact sheet that included collaboration to advance priority co-production arrangements for munitions, jet engines and ground mobility systems.
In February this year, the United States approved the sale of 31 MQ-9B drones to the Indian Military and the deal was that the Indian Navy will receive 15 Sea Guardian drones and the Indian Army and Airforce will receive eight Sky Guardian drones each. As per the sources these drones can play a crucial role in enhancing India’s intelligence-gathering operations and maritime security as these are well-equipped with advanced sensors and are capable enough to conduct long-endurance missions.
Other than the discussions around drones, Modi and Biden also explored the establishment of a semiconductor manufacturing plant unit, GlobalFoundries’ (GF) Kolkata Power Centre in Kolkata. This plant aims to fortify supply chains and technological collaborations such as enable advances in low- emission, connected devices, AI and enhance mutually beneficial linkages in chip manufacturing research.
The drone deal between US-India aims at strategic alignment that can counter regional threats particularly from China in the Indo-Pacific. The leaders also encouraged the industry to promote collaboration and innovation to help India establish itself as a premier aviation hub. They also hailed the recent partnership between Lockheed Martin and Tata Advanced Systems Ltd. about the C-130J Super Hercules aircraft program.
Various new areas of cooperation like cybersecurity training and threat information sharing were also discussed and this partnership has also seen significant growth in recent years with collaboration across investment, trade, defense, etc.