US blocks $3 billion drone sale to India

WASHINGTON: The US government has held back delivery of 31 MQ-9A Sea Guardian and Sky Guardian drones to India until New Delhi carries out a “meaningful investigation” into the conspiracy to assassinate Sikh leader Gurpatwant Singh Pannun.

Pannun, who hold dual US and Canadian citizenship, is a New York-based Khalistan activist accused by India of terrorism. The proposed $3 billion purchase includes 15 Sea Guardian drones for the Indian Navy, while the Indian Air Force and Army are supposed to get eight Sky Guardian drones each.

Washington has also held back smaller Indian acquisitions, including a proposal to buy six Boeing P-8I long-range maritime patrol aircraft. These are to supplement 12 P-8I Poseidon aircraft that the Indian Navy already operates.

The Indian Ministry of Defence’s internal approval for the now-stalled drone procurement came in June 2023, a week before Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s state visit to Washington.

According to an Indian media outlet citing sources in Washington, “the purchase is stuck in the US Congress because of anger over the brazen attempt to assassinate Pannun. US representatives have frozen the legislative movement needed for proceeding with the sale,”

It added that Indian-American lawmakers are deeply concerned about the fallout from the indictment of an Indian named Nikhil Gupta. He has been charged with conspiring to kill Pannun, and is currently detained in the Czech Republic pending his deportation to the US.

In a joint statement on the assassination plot last December, five US Congress members of Indian origin said that it is critical for India to “fully investigate [and] hold those responsible, including Indian government officials, accountable, and provide assurances that this will not happen again”.

US federal prosecutors allege that Gupta had promised $100,000 to an FBI agent posing as a hitman to kill Pannun in New York. Gupta was arrested in the Czech Republic on June 30 and is awaiting deportation.

On November 29, US federal prosecutors charged Gupta with murder-for-hire, which carries up to 10 years in prison; and conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire, which has a maximum sentence of a 10-year jail term.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has played down the impact of this issue on Indo-US ties. In an interview, Modi said there is strong bipartisan support for the strengthening of this relationship and that it was not appropriate “to link a few incidents with diplomatic relations between the two countries”.

The Poseidon aircraft and Sea Guardian drones work together, watching over large swathes of the Indian Ocean and will give the Indian Navy an enhanced ability to respond to any attempts to disrupt international trade routes that pass through these waters.

The versatile Sea Guardian drone has an endurance of over 27 hours, a speed of 240 knots, an operating ceiling of 50,000 feet, and 1,746 kilograms of payload capacity that includes 1,361 kilograms of external stores. The MQ-9A is powered by the Honeywell TPE331-10 turboprop engine, which significantly improves engine performance and fuel efficiency, particularly at low altitudes.