Vivek Lall, the Chief Executive of General Atomics Global Corporation, called the decision to acquire MQ9B reaper drones for the Indian Armed forces "a breakthrough moment for India-US strategic and defence partnership". He said, "General Atomics is pleased to be a major contributor in taking it to the next level."

Share Market Live

NSE

Last week, the Ministry of Defence approved the acquisition MQ-9B Reaper armed drones from the US during a Defence Acquisition Council meeting led by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh.

The procurement of these drones holds significant as the Indian government aims to use them to ramp up its surveillance apparatus along the frontier with China as well as in the Indian Ocean region, the Times of India had earlier quoted sources as saying.

The MQ-9B drone is a variant of the MQ-9 "Reaper" which was used to launch a modified version of the Hellfire missile that eliminated al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri in Kabul.

Lall's statement came after General Electric (GE) Aerospace signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) Thursday to jointly produce fighter jet engines for the Indian Air Force's Light Combat Aircraft (LCA)-Mk-II Tejas.

On Thursday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi called it a a landmark agreement. "The decision taken by General Electric to manufacture engines in India through transfer of technology is a landmark agreement," PM Modi told reporters at a joint news conference with US President Joe Biden at the White House. This also opens up new job opportunities in both countries, he said and added that "this will give our defence cooperation a new character in the times to come", he added.

"The defence industries and startups of both countries are important partners in this cooperation. Bringing them together is the key objective of our defence industrial roadmap," Modi said. In a joint statement, President Biden and Prime Minister Modi hailed the landmark signing of the MoU between GE and HAL.

The deal was announced amid PM Modi's first-ever State visit to the US. The historic visit by PM Modi focuses on enriching "the depth and diversity of" the India-US partnership and "elevating" the trade and investment relationship between the two countries, PM Modi had said before leaving for the US on June 20.