The U.S. State Department on Thursday approved a nearly $4 billion drone sale to India, a deal that emerged during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Washington last year.
Congress has received the notification for India’s pending purchase of 31 MQ-9B SkyGuardian aircraft made by General Atomics Aeronautical Systems. The notification triggers a 30-day congressional review period on Capitol Hill.
“The U.S.-India defense partnership has seen significant growth over the past decade,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said a press briefing on Wednesday, noting the sale “offers significant potential to further advance strategic technology cooperation with India and military cooperation in the region.”
The Biden administration has sought to court India as part of its efforts to counter China in the Indo-Pacific region while prying it away from Russia, New Delhi’s leading arms supplier. India also seeks to develop its own indigenous defense-industrial base. A December Congressional Research Service report noted that India is the world’s largest arms importer by value.