The United States stated that selling General Atomics MQ9-B armed drones would provide India with enhanced maritime security and domain awareness capability. This comes days after the US Department approved a sale of MQ-9B remotely piloted aircraft and related equipment for an estimated 3.99 billion Dollars to India.

The projected mega drone agreement was revealed during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's historic state visit here in June 2023.

"This sale, we believe, will provide India with an enhanced maritime security and maritime domain awareness capability," State Department Deputy Spokesperson Vedant Patel said as quoted by news agency PTI. "It offers India outright ownership of these aircraft, and this is something that we'll continue to deepen our cooperation with our Indian partners on," Patel added.

The sale would support the foreign policy and national security objectives of the United States by helping to strengthen the US-Indian strategic relationship, according to an official statement.

"The proposed sale will support the foreign policy and national security objectives of the United States by helping to strengthen the US-India strategic relationship and to improve the security of a major defence partner which continues to be an important force for political stability, peace, and economic progress in the Indo-pacific and South Asia region," it added.