US Representative Richard McCormick stressed on having ties between the United States (US) and India economically, militarily and strategically. He emphasised that lawmakers whether they are Democrats or Republicans need to pay more attention to India as a “future partner going forward”.
On reports of the US pushing a sign a big-arms drone deal during the upcoming visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, he said, “I think the more we link our countries together, both strategically, economically, militarily, the better. If you look at the threats in the region, if you look at India’s strategic location next to China, Pakistan, and Bangladesh, with all the problems that we have in that part of the world right now, we need a strong partner, somebody that we can link ourselves to.” Media reports suggest that the Biden administration is urging India to iron out bureaucratic hurdles and take forward a long-awaited deal for U.S.-made armed drones ahead of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s upcoming visit to Washington.
Responding to a question if the state visit to the White House on June 22 will pave the way for the purchase of up to SeaGuardian drones from defence firm General Atomics as reported by Reuters, McCormick said, “Well, I think right now we need to sort out a lot of details, the way things are right now. They have been traditionally buying from Russia. That takes a while to transition from, especially when you talk about supplying parts and getting things into. A country and then training people to be proficient in those weapons systems take a while, but I think the time is now. I think they (India)understand the importance of our partnership, especially when it comes to the economic ties that benefit from that also. But I think this is an important alliance into the future that’s going to benefit this entire region and the world.”
Ahead of PM Narendra Modi’s visit to the US, Defence Minister is going to discuss the acquisition of MQ-9 Reaper drones from the US. The acquisition of these drones is scheduled to come up for discussion during an important high-level meeting of the defence ministry on Thursday, defence sources told ANI.
Modi and Biden are also expected to discuss the co-production of munitions and ground vehicles, like armoured personnel carriers, while Modi is in Washington, the Reuters report suggests said.
