Congress raises questions on pricing of predator drone deal with US

The Congress on Wednesday demanded complete transparency in the multicrore IndiaUS drone deal while alleging that the 31 MQ9B Predator UAV drones were being procured for a higher priceCongress spokesperson Pawan Khera said at a press conference that national security was paramount and that several doubts were being raised on the predator drone dealThe Modi government is known to jeopardise national interests and the people of India have witnessed the same in the Rafale deal where the Modi government bought only 36 Rafale jets instead of 126 We also saw how HAL was denied transfer of technology We also saw how several unilateral decisions were made despite widespread objections from the Defence Acquisition Committee and the Armed Forces The Rafale scam is still under scrutiny in France he chargedWe demand complete transparency in this Predator Drone deal India needs answers to the crucial questions Otherwise we will be trapped in another scam under the Modi Government he told reportersTrashing reports on the price as well as the acquisition process the Defence Ministry had said on Sunday that India is yet to finalise the cost and specific terms of purchase of 31 MQ9B long endurance drones from the US and it will examine the best price offered by the manufacturer to other nations before concluding the procurementIt had said that the Acceptance of Necessity AoN accorded to the procurement by the Defence Acquisition Council DAC noted the estimated cost of USD 3072 million one million10 lakh as provided by the US government adding the price will be negotiated once policy approval from Washington is receivedKhera said as the dust settles on all manufactured glitter on PM Narendra Modis much publicised visit to the USA there is one defence deal which is now under the radar of several questions So much so that the Defence Ministry had to release an official PIB clarification and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh had to clarify he claimedBut the people of India need answers on the USD 3072 billion 25200 crore at current conversion levels deal for 31 MQ9B 16 Sky Guardian and 15 Sea Guardian High Altitude Long Endurance HALE Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems RPAS commonly known as MQ9B Predator UAV Drones manufactured by only one entity General Atomics he said adding these are not the latest in the townHe said their first combat mission was in 2017 and now there has been advancement in technology with new latest variants which have come upKhera said that each PredatorReaper drone from General Atomics USA will cost approximately Rs 812 crore each and India is keen to buy 31 of those which means India shall spend Rs 25200 crore while the DRDO can develop the same in just 1020 percent of the costWhy was there no Cabinet Committee on Security CCS meeting to approve the drone deal Is it it not reminiscent of the Rafale deal wherein PM Modi unilaterally signed a deal for 36 Rafales without the Defence Ministry or the External Affairs Ministry privy to it he askedWhy is India paying more than the price for a drone as compared to other countries Why are we paying the highest price for a drone which does not have AI integration he also askedThe Congress leader questioned that when the Air Force had reservations about skyrocketing prices of these drones then what was the tearing hurry to have a dealCertainly it could have happened post negotiations of the pricing and other technical specifications including an AI integration he saidIn a tweet Congress general secretary communications Jairam Ramesh charged Once again a murky defence deal undercutting indigenous efforts with the PM at the centre comes to the foreThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever