US senators urge Kerry to approve India’s proposal to buy 22 Guardian drones

The drone is currently deployed with the US department of homeland security and would fulfill India’s maritime security and maritime domain awareness (MDA).

Two top US Senators on Monday said they supported India’s proposal to buy Guardian remotely piloted aircraft systems (RPAS), or drones — calling New Delhi a “close ally” and urged the secretary of state John Kerry in a letter to process request with “utmost urgency”.

US secretary of state John Kerry was to sign India’s request for 22 RPAS for its navy. (Reuters file photo)

India officially made the request for 22 RPAS for its navy shortly after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s DC visit in June, when the US announced India a “major defence partner”. The drone is currently deployed with the US department of homeland security.

In a joint letter, senators Mark Warner, a Democrat, and John Cornyn, a Republican, said the Guardian system “is the only RPAS that would fulfill India’s maritime security and maritime domain awareness (MDA — loosely, keeping an eye on Chinese maritime presence in the region) requirement”.

Warner and Cornyn, who are co-chairs of the India caucus in the senate, went on to write that they are aware that the request of sale of sensitive technology such as Guardian is covered by a “strong presumption” of denial.

But, they added, “we strongly feel that the export of this unarmed, surveillance-only platform, which would be used by a close ally in a manner that supports US national security interests, presents a convincing case to allow for overcoming that presumption.”

The state department has to sign on for the project to go through.