PM's US visit to be a watershed, says defence firm boss

Vivek Lall, the chief executive of General Atomics Global Corporation, has said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi's State visit to the US will be a "watershed", and lauded Modi and President Joe Biden for taking the defence relationship to the next level.

- Prashant Jha

General Atomics Global Corporation has developed the Predator drones that India is all set to purchase. On Thursday, the Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) cleared the procurement of the unmanned aerial vehicles. The decision will have to be cleared by the cabinet committee on security. During Modi's visit, India is expected to issue a letter of request for 31 drones worth $3 billion to the US government, to be split among the three services. The acquisition will happen der the foreign military sales (FMS) mechanism of the US Department of Defense, which, as HT reported on Wednesday, has just been tweaked to incorporate the needs of allies and partners and meet their needs on an expeditious basis.