The Biden administration “continues to discuss” the deal for high altitude drones that was announced during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Washington in 2023, the U.S. Embassy here said, reacting to a report that U.S. lawmakers had placed a hold on the deal, linking it to the Pannun case. According to the report in online news portal The Wire, members of the U.S. Congress have held up the U.S. government’s request for approval ahead of its notification of the deal, which was earlier expected to be a formality, due to their concerns over India’s investigation into the alleged assassination plot against U.S.-Canadian Khalistani separatist leader Gurpatwant Singh Pannun in May 2023.
“We continue to discuss with U.S. Congress the potential sale consistent with standard processes and policies guiding such arm sales decisions,” a U.S. Embassy spokesperson said on Wednesday, when asked to comment. The response indicates that the Congressional clearance is still a work-in-progress and could come through, but significantly, it didn’t contain a denial of the report that one or more U.S. lawmakers had placed a hold on the sale.
“As part of the standard process, the State Department routinely engages foreign affairs committees prior to formal notification to address questions from committee staff,” a U.S. Embassy spokesperson added.
The report appeared days after a visit to Delhi by senior U.S. State Department officials, including Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia Donald Lu, and the delegation is understood to have raised the need for New Delhi to show progress in the “high-level” enquiry committee set up by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) on November 18.
The Pannun case, investigated in the U.S. by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) had led to a charge-sheet against an Indian national, Nikhil Gupta, who allegedly hired a hitman to target Khalistani separatists in the U.S. and Canada at the behest of a senior Indian security official. Mr. Gupta was last believed to be in the Czech Republic, awaiting his extradition to the US.
In December 2023, a number of U.S. lawmakers spoke out at a Senate committee hearing on ‘Transnational Repression: Authoritarians Targeting Dissenters Abroad’, criticising the Modi government over the case, placing India along with Russia, China, and Iran on the issue. Foreign Relations Committee chair Ben Cardin in particular reacted to what he called “disturbing allegations against an Indian Government official for involvement in planning to assassinate a U.S. citizen in New York who was critical of the Indian government”, and invoked plans for a new “International Freedom Protection Act”, to address the growing use of “transnational oppression by autocratic and illiberal states”.
Another Senator, Chris Van Hollen, had suggested invoking a provision in the Arms Export Control Act to “prohibit arms transfers to any countries that are, engaged in a consistent pattern of acts of intimidation, or harassment directed against individuals in the United States.” Due to secrecy around the process, it isn’t thus far known which U.S. lawmaker(s) raised the objections over the deal for 31 MQ-9B high altitude long endurance Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV), estimated to cost India over $ 3 billion.
It is among the top high technology deals currently in the pipeline between the two countries, in addition to the licensed manufacture of the General Electric F-414 jet engines in India by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited. While the engine deal has been cleared by the U.S. Congress, the MQ-9B deal is still under process.
As part of the process, the U.S. Government and Ministry of Defence will have to finalise the Letter of Offer and Acceptance (LOA), where details of equipment and terms of the procurement would be negotiated and finalised in accordance with the FMS programme, and the U.S. Congressional approval is required before the deal can be concluded.
The MQ-9B, which will significantly boost the Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) capabilities of the Indian Armed Forces, and also work in tandem with the U.S.-origin P-8I long range maritime patrol aircraft, significantly enhancing the Indian Navy’s surveillance over the Indian Ocean Region. As part of MQ-9B deal, General Atomics is scheduled to establish a Global Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO) facility in India.
