US-India Drone Deal: Joe Biden Notifies Congress Of Proposed Drone Sale To India, Triggering A 30-day Review Period
The $3 billion deal, announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Joe Biden in June 2023, includes the sale of 31 MQ-9B UAVs, with 15 for the Indian Navy and eight each for the Indian Air Force and Indian Army.
The Joe Biden administration has formally notified the US Congress about the proposed sale of 31 MQ-9B High Altitude, Long Endurance (HALE) armed drones to India. This move follows a period of informal review, which raised concerns about the deal's fate. Congress now has a 30-day window to either approve the deal by taking no action or reject it through a congressional vote.
The notification was sent to the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the Chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee by the US State Department's Defense Security Cooperation Agency. Notably, there were reports of some lawmakers attempting to tie the clearance of the drone deal to India's cooperation with a US investigation into allegations against Indian businessman Nikhil Gupta, currently held in Czech custody on a US extradition request related to an alleged murder-for-hire plot against a Khalistani activist.
