The United States is keen to provide India with armed drones capable of carrying over 1,000 pounds of bombs and missiles. This development has come at the wake of the violent clashes in June between Indian and Chinese troops in Ladakh.
The MQ-1 Predator drones are capable of carrying more than 1,000 pounds of bombs and missiles capable of striking targets at land, sea and air.
On 15 June, Chinese troops attacked the soldiers of the Indian Army that led to the death of 20 soldiers and an unspecified number of deaths on the Chinese side.
Also, things have been heating up between the US and China in the South China Sea and the US sees India as a perfect partner to counter China in the vast Indian Ocean Region. Hence the sale of advance drones to India that will help us to keep an eye on our interests.
In a report published in the Foreign Policy magazine interviews with US officials and Congressional aides says, “The Trump administration is looking to ramp up arms sales to India in the wake of the country’s deadly border clashes with China, opening a new front of tensions between Washington and Beijing”.
The US sees India not only as its biggest security partner, but it also sees India as the world’s biggest market for arms sales. Over the last ten years, India has purchased several weapons systems such as the Apache attack helicopter, P-81 maritime surveillance and anti-submarine plane and heavy transport planes and helicopter such as the Globemaster C-17, C-130 Hercules and the Chinook heavy left helicopter.
President Donald Trump has officially amended rules that restrict the sale of military-grade drones to foreign partners like India. This is an important policy shift by the Trump administration that changes the interpretation of the Missile Technology Control Regime.
This provision will allow the US to sell armed drones, which had previously been restricted because of their speeds and payloads. Foreign Policy also reported that “They are going to want to provide India with armed [category-1] Predators”.
The last twenty years have been very taxing for the American economy that saw the fall of the real estate market and the two-front war in Afganistan and Iraq not going anywhere.
Also, the rise of China, that has plans to usurp everything in its sights has forced America to change the policy. The time of America’s role as the sole global policemen have come to an end. It needs security partners and policymakers in the US believe this is the right time to free themselves up from the international and multilateral constraints.
America has been lobbying India by offering its state of the art military hardware that includes armed drones. Also, there is a legislative move to bring India at par with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) allies that will make the sale of arms more legitimate.
The last ten years saw the US defence sales to India an increase to over $20 billion. In 2016, the US designated India as a Major Defense Partner.
If the sale of armed drones happens, India will be the first non-treaty partner to be offered a Missile Technology Control Regime Category-1 Unmanned Aerial System – the Sea Guardian UAS manufactured by General Atomics.
The US is also pushing India to buy and is willing to set up the manufacturing of the Lockheed Martin’s F-21 in India. Also, there is Boeing’s F/A-18 Super Hornet and F-15EX Eagle that the US sees can be part of India’s future fighter aircraft acquisitions.
With the rise of an aggressive China, the dynamics have changed in the Asia-Pacific. India which was reluctant to invite Australia for its Quad navel exercise have now changed its policy.
The recently concluded India-US naval exercise was not only a signal to China but this crucial exercise was carried out to enhance India’s military capabilities, increase US-India military interoperability, and protect shared security interests in the Indo-Pacific region.