America's top drone manufacturer to open office in India

America's top manufactures of armed drones plans to open an office in New Delhi by year end, fueling rise to the speculation about fast movement towards India acquiring state of the art armed drones from the US.
"We are looking forward to continuing to enhance our cooperation with India by working with the US government to provide the Indian Navy with persistent, operationally proven maritime domain awareness," said Linden Blue, CEO, of General Atomics Aeronautical Systems (GA-ASI), a leading manufacturer of remotely piloted aircraft (RPA) systems, radars, and electro-optic and related mission systems solutions.
Announcing that it plans to expand its presence in India and open an office in New Delhi by the end of the year, GA-ASI in a statement said it recognises the importance of India and looks forward to working more closely with the Indian Government from its new local office.

The company plans to increase collaboration with India in the areas of maritime security and maritime domain awareness, which are key missions for the Indian Ministry of Defence and the Indian Navy.
Dr Vivek Lall, a renowned corporate leader, has spearheaded global initiatives for General Atomics in the last few years, a company official said.
India recently joined Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR) and has sent a letter of request to the US Government for 22 Guardian Predator aircraft.

"Finally Guardian is a non-weaponized maritime
surveillance system and does not offer any lethal capabilities," the two Senators wrote in an apparent reference to the arguments being posed by Pakistani advocates that these are armed drones.

"We believe strongly in our nation's commitment to international non-proliferation regimes, including the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR) and are aware that the NTCR Guidelines calls for a 'strong presumption' of denial when considering export of items with Guardian's range and payload capabilities," the Senators wrote.
"However, we feel strongly that the export of this unarmed, surveillance-only platform, which would be used by a close ally in a manner that supports US national security interests, presents a convincing case to allow for overcoming that presumption," they said making a strong argument against those opposing the sale of Guardian drones to India.

Expressing support for this potential sale, the two Senators urged the State Department to process the Indian request with the "utmost urgency" and with a "favorable outcome", as a positive signal to India of the US government's commitment to the bilateral relationship.