NEW DELHI, June 15 (Reuters) - India's defence ministry has approved the procurement of U.S.-made armed MQ-9B SeaGuardian drones, sources told Reuters on Thursday.
India will buy 31 drones made by General Atomics worth slightly over $3 billion, one of the sources said.
India’s defence ministry did not respond to a request for comment.
The defence ministry's initial clearance for the procurement comes just days before Prime Minister Narendra Modi leaves for a state visit to the U.S. next week.
The U.S. government approved the sale of 30 drones to India more than two years ago, but the Indian defence ministry had been sitting on the decision.
Persons:
General Atomics, Narendra Modi, Joe Biden, Biden, Jake Sullivan, Ajit Doval, Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, Modi, Lloyd Austin, Krishn Kaushik, Jan Harvey
Organizations:
Reuters, U.S, Modi, . National, Modi's, Thomson
Locations:
DELHI, U.S, India, China, Pakistan, New Delhi, Delhi, Russia