America's top drone manufacturer GA-ASI to open office in India

WASHINGTON: 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.

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"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.

Armed drones have been used by Pakistan in combat. The US, Israel, Britain and Nigeria have previously used armed drones in combat