On 31st January 2024, left-wing propaganda portal and fake news peddler The Wire claimed that the US government has blocked the sale of 31 Predator drones to India. In an article written by well-known defence propagandist Ajai Shukla claimed that the US govt has blocked the delivery of “MQ-9A Sea Guardian and Sky Guardian drones until the India govt carries out a meaningful investigation” into the alleged conspiracy to assassinate Khalistani terrorist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun.
Ajai Shukla also claimed that the US has also held back the proposal to sell six more Boeing P-8I Poseidon aircraft to the Indian Navy. The report was based on a “highly-placed source in Washington” who allegedly revealed it to Shukla.
Just a day after the report by The Wire, the Hindustan Times published a report saying that the US Congress has approved the sale of the drones to India. As per the exclusive report by HT, the US State Department informed Predator Drone manufacturer General Atomics that the US Congress has cleared the ‘tiered review’ of the 31 MQ9B drone sale to India and official Congressional notification will be submitted within 24 hours.
The report added that General Atomics informed the same to the Indian government.
Now, these are completely two opposite claims on the strategically important defence deal, which has created a lot of confusion. Therefore, it is important to see what is exactly happening with the deal, and what is the truth in the claims made by The Wire that the US govt will block a major defence deal over the subject of an alleged plot to kill an American citizen who is accused of terrorism by India.
During the regular press briefing of the US State Department, the matter was raised, and spokesperson Matthew Miller made it clear that there is no truth in reports that the deal has been blocked by the US govt. When a reporter asked him whether the report by The Wire was true or fake, the spokesperson laughed, and said “I love, nice try”.
The question asked was, “According to a media report, United States lost $3 billion drone sale to India until meaningful investigation of Sikh leader Mr. Pannun assassination conspiracy. Is it true or just a fake news?”
After dismissing the report as ‘nice try’, Matthew Miller said that he doesn’t have any comment on when the formal notification regarding the deal will take place. He said that the US Congress plays an important role in the U.S. arms transfer process. “We routinely consult with members of Congress with the foreign – on the foreign affairs committees before our formal notification to – so we can address questions that they might have, but I don’t have any comment on when that formal notification might take place,” He said.
"This is a proposed sale that was announced during PM Modi’s visit last year. We believe it offers significant potential to further advance strategic technology cooperation with India", US state dept on media report that US blocked $3-Bn drone sale to India pic.twitter.com/Asp1ULZIg2
— Sidhant Sibal (@sidhant) February 1, 2024
Talking about the deal, Miller said, “I will say that generally the U.S.-Indian Defense Partnership has seen significant growth over the past decade. This is a proposed sale that was announced during Prime Minister Modi’s visit last year. We believe it offers significant potential to further advance strategic technology cooperation with India and military cooperation in the region.”
By using the words like ‘it offers significant potential’, the State Department spokesperson has made it clear that the deal is on, and there is no truth in claimed that it has been blocked by the Biden administration.
Later News18 also published a report making similar claims as the Hindustan Times report did, citing people familiar with the deal. The report stated that “US Congress this week cleared the ‘tiered review’ of the sale of 31 MQ-9B HALE UAVs/drones to India and the sale of the MQ-9B Predator drones to India will be notified today.”
Importantly, the News18 report says that the officials have quashed the claim by The Wire that the US govt has blocked the deal over the Pannun affair. “The people mentioned above said that the matter is irrelevant and hardly affects the important bilateral relationship between both nations,” the report stated.
From the US State Department spokesperson’s comments and other media reports, it can be concluded that there is no basis in Ajai Shukla’s report published by The Wire, and the deal has not been blocked over the allegation over Pannun. However, the spokesperson also said that the US Congress approval for the deal has not come yet, and he does not know when it will be done.
When the same topic was raised during the regular press briefing by the Ministry of External Affairs, the spokesperson said that the US has internal processes, and the Indian govt respects that. MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal didn’t make further comment on the issue.
"US has internal processes, we respect that…" Says MEA Spox on report of US drone deal cancellation with India over Pannun issue pic.twitter.com/JMMt7bhY3L
— Sidhant Sibal (@sidhant) February 1, 2024
Notably, the US State Dept press briefing was done on 31st January US time, and it is possible that US Congress may approve the deal on 1st February US time, as claimed by the Indian reports. If that happens, it will be known by early 2nd February in India.
Importantly, the Indian govt is purchasing 31 MQ9B Predator drones from General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, 15 of which will be SkyGuardian drones for the Indian Air Force and 15 will be the SeaGuardian version for the Navy. But the Wire report called them “MQ-9A Sea Guardian and Sky Guardian drones”.
This is a completely wrong nomenclature used by Shukla, because there are no 9A Sea Guardian or Sky Guardian drones. The 9A version of the drone made by General Atomics is called “Reaper”. India is not purchasing the 9A version, the deal is for the 9B version of the UAV with two variants for Air Force and Navy.
9B is an updated version of the MQ-9 drone, with two variants for Air Force and Navy, Sky Guardian and Sea Guardian. The website of the General Atomics Aeronautical Systems makes it clear. Therefore, the ‘defence expert’ got basic things like the names of the drones ordered wrong in the article.
The claim that the US govt has blocked a proposal to buy six Boeing P-8I long-range maritime patrol aircraft also seems to be dubious, as the Indian govt itself is not pushing for the purchase at present. While the Indian Navy wants six more Boeing P-8I aircraft after acquiring 12 of them, and the defence ministry had issued a “letter of request” for six more P-8Is for around $1.8 billion, the ministry is now reportedly hesitant to go ahead with the purchase due to budgetary concerns and alternative options. India has already ordered 56 C-295 military transport aircraft from Airbus, 40 of which will be made in India.
Indian Navy has already decided to purchase 9 C-295 aircraft while the coast guard is acquiring 6 of them, making an additional purchase of 15 planes apart from 56 already ordered for Air Force. It is notable that Apart from military transport, the C-295 can work as a maritime patrol aircraft, parachute and cargo dropping, and electronic signals intelligence. Therefore, this aircraft will be used for maritime patrol, instead of buying more P-8I aircraft, which is much more expensive.
Reportedly, the transport aircraft would be equipped with the required radars and sensors and turned into a maritime patrol plane by the Defence Research and Development Organisation’s Centre for Airborne Systems (CABS).
Update: It didn’t take long to bust the fake news by The Wire, as the Defense Security Cooperation Agency under the United States Department on 1st February announced the formal approval to sale 31 General Atomics MQ-9B drones along with a large number of missiles and other related components to India. In a statement, the agency said, “The State Department has made a determination approving a possible Foreign Military Sale to the Government of India of MQ-9B Remotely Piloted Aircraft and related equipment for an estimated cost of $3.99 billion.” Apart from the drones, India will be buying Hellfire missiles, Laser Small Diameter Bombs, LSDB Guided Test Vehicles, Embedded Global Positioning & Inertial Navigation Systems and Communications Intelligence Sensor Suites, apart from a large number of components.
This is not the first time the so-called defence expert was caught peddling fake news, he has done it several times earlier. In 2019, Ayai Shukla claimed that the IAF Court of Inquiry constituted to investigate the Mi-17 V5 crash at Srinagar in February 2019 was put on hold due to upcoming Lok Sabha elections. The Indian Air Force had clarified that it was false there was no link between the probe and the polls. “This is his imagination and IAF categorically denies this,” IAF had said responding to the claim.
In 2021, Indian Army said that Ajai Shukla’s claim of fresh clash between Indian and Chinese troops in Ladakh was baseless. In report on Business Standard, Shukla had claimed that Indian forces and China’s PLA troopers had once again engaged in skirmishes in Eastern Ladakh after the Galwan clashes. During the Galwan clashes, Shukla had made several false claims, and had misquoted defence minister Rajnath Singh. Before that in 2016, Ajai Shukla had raised questions on the Rafale deal, supporting Rahul Gandhi’s allegations against the deal.
Note: This report has been updated with additional details
