India to benefit from easing of drone sales
WASHINGTON: The US has dropped some restrictions on the sales of advanced drones to reinforce the armies of its allies and to promote American exports and jobs, a move that is expected to benefit countries such as India.
President Donald Trump signed a National Security Presidential Memorandum approving a new Conventional Arms Transfer (CAT) policy, White House spokesperson Sarah Sanders said on Thursday. He also established a new policy for the export of Us-made unmanned aerial systems or drones.
India, a Major Defence Partner of the US, has plans to purchase a large number of armed and surveillance drones from countries such as the US and Israel. It uses drones for surveillance of the borders with Pakistan and China and to monitor the movement of ships off its vast coastline.
The new policy on arms transfers will allow American firms to directly make sales to US allies rather than via the US government, said Tina Kaidanow, the principal deputy assistant secretary in the Bureau of Politicalmilitary Affairs.
“That’s a major change. And we will give them additional space for marketing of these systems and for the eventual sale, assuming that they meet all other criteria, the sale meets all the other criteria that we would normally consider,” she added.
The new policy on conventional arms reflects priorities set out in Trump’s National Security Strategy and provides a framework whereby all US agencies will review and evaluate proposed arms transfers and approve commercial sales by American companies, she added.