- Tuesday, February 25, 2025
By: Shubham Ghosh
INDIAN prime minister Narendra Modi was set to meet the chief executive officer of armed drone manufacturer General Atomics in Washington DC on Thursday (23) besides the chief executive officers of four other top American companies. His meeting with the General Atomics head has attained particular attention in the backdrop of New Delhi acquiring 30 Predator drones from Washington for boosting over-the-horizon military capability.
According to sources in DC, Modi will have one-on-one talks with the top officials of semi-conductor major Qualcomm, global investment company Blackstone, non-conventional energy leader First Solar and US software leader Adobe. Each of these companies are leaders in their respective field.
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Two of the five chief executives are Indian-Americans, including Vivek Lall of General Atomics and Shantanu Narayen of Adobe. The other three are Cristiano E Amon of Qualcomm, Mark Widmar of First Solar and Stephen A Schwarzman of Blackstone.
Apple chief executive officer Tim Cook dropped out of his meeting with Modi at the last moment due to health reasons as Covid numbers are climbing in America of late.
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Modi’s meeting with General Atomics head is crucial as the Indian Navy has already made operational two Predator MQ-9 unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) for building maritime domain awareness from Gulf of Aden in eastern Africa to Lombok Straits in Indonesia.
New Delhi has plans to get 30 Predator armed UAVs with each service getting 10 each for strengthening stand-off capabilities. The Predator can be equipped with seven Hell-Fire air-to-surface missiles or laser-guided bombs. The UAV is a multi-mission aircraft which can operate at a height of 50,000 feet and has an endurance of almost 27 hours. It can be used for intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance and targeting.
India’s need for armed drones is driven by the fact that its arch-rival Pakistan is also operating China-made armed drones and eyeing to get more from Turkey.
The Joe Biden administration in the US has given its nod to India for acquiring the Predator drone and now it is a matter of time before the Indian Navy tables the proposal before the Defence Acquisition Committee and sees the process kicking off.
