| |
US to sell military goodies to
India
By Seema Sirohi
WASHINGTON - India's own and longer war on
terrorism is about to get a sharp edge. The United
States has agreed to sell India cutting-edge equipment
for its special forces, including technology to pinpoint
the location of a target within meters and sensors to
detect bomb-laden intruders walking across the
mountains.
The stealth forces may soon be
carrying receivers for the Global Positioning System
(GPS), a constellation of 24 satellites controlled by
the US Defense Department, which can pinpoint people and
places with remarkable accuracy. Also on the way are
sniper rifles, night-vision goggles, special body armor
and thermal-imaging equipment that Washington sells only
to its closest allies. It has also agreed in principle
to sell "unmanned aerial vehicles" that can loiter and
reconnoiter, giving military forces a very good idea of
what's out there. Operating behind enemy lines could
become easier for Indian special forces with the new
range of light, bright, mobile but lethal toys.
Besides the weapons, the two sides set the
schedule for yet another round of joint military
exercises of "greater complexity and sophistication"
than done over the past two years - something that gives
Pakistani President General Pervez Musharraf real cause
to worry. An Indian statement rubbed it in with these
words: "These exercises have been providing insights
into concepts, doctrines, technologies and operating
procedures that have been valuable for the Indian armed
forces." Since Pakistan's top-rung armor is American,
joint exercises between India and the United States
allow New Delhi a penetration into the Pakistani war
machine in peacetime. There are reports that the US
wants to field its top air-to-air fighter, the F-15C,
against the Russian Su-30, which is India's best fighter
jet.
US officials also approved all other items
on India's wish list this week in a clear sign of a
tectonic shift. India is seriously looking at the United
States as a weapons supplier and Uncle Sam, in turn, is
willing to "protect" Mother India. Overcoming decades of
suspicion, ideological objections and bureaucratic
cussedness on both sides, a "real" defense relationship
was flagged off after week-long meetings between senior
officials ending with the crowning two-day encounter of
the Defense Policy Group (DPG). That the successes came
shortly after India's decision to deny a US request to
send troops to Iraq made them even more significant.
Reports of a possible "backlash" had made New Delhi a
little nervous, but things seem on track.
There
was so much good news that the Indian delegation left
Washington feeling upbeat and optimistic. Here is how
one official described it: "The procurement part went
off very well and the overall talks were extremely
positive. There was no serious downside. The bottlenecks
have been cleared [and] we will continue to build on the
relationship."
Efforts are under way to set up a
real weapons pipeline with Washington, and move away
from near-total dependence on Russia. While it may take
time, Indian officials say they simply must diversify,
since Russian supplies are increasingly erratic, with no
hope of improvement. Indian armed forces are seriously
suffering now for an arsenal developed and collected in
the days of the Soviet Union and non-alignment. Spare
parts are dangerously long in coming, if delivered at
all by the cash-strapped Russian arms industry.
And the US response to Indian overtures is
positive, if the latest DPG meeting is any indication.
Apart from the James Bond-type gear for special forces,
the United States is also willing to fulfill other
demands. Douglas Feith, US under secretary for defense
and a leading voice in the administration of President
George W Bush, gave the green signal for the P-3 Orion
surveillance aircraft and a "deep submarine rescue
vehicle" for the Indian Navy - a longtime request
finally seeing signs of fruition. A US team will soon
fly to India to assess the needs.
With a wave of
a hand, Feith also cleared export licenses pending with
the Defense Department on old Indian requests. The
licensing process is a complicated bureaucratic
procedure where approval is required from the Commerce,
Defense and State departments and where mid-level
officials can sit on requests for months if they choose.
Licenses were being denied left and right after India's
1998 nuclear tests, which sent relations plummeting for
a while. The recovery seems finally complete with an
evident new level of trust and confidence.
If
India needs the United States, the Americans are equally
keen to court India, for both monetary and strategic
reasons. Developing a new "friend" keeps the weapons
manufacturers happy, pumping sales while slowly
bolstering a partner in Asia to share burdens of
patrolling sea lanes and securing trade routes.
"We are trying to convince India to buy more
American stuff, but they are always nervous that we
might slap [on] sanctions in the future. There is a
great fear," said a US official. In the past, India has
considered the United States an "unreliable" supplier
because of its tendency to impose sanctions if a country
runs afoul of a particular US policy. Americans have
also denied dual-use technology to India because of its
nuclear and missile programs. Slowly, both fears are
being laid to rest as Indian officials develop more
confidence in the Americans and Washington grudgingly
accepts India's status as a de facto nuclear power.
The latest approvals for high-end weapons sales
come after the recent delivery of four "Firefinder"
radars from the United States to India, with another
four on the way. The deal is worth US$180 million,
sources said.
"The US technology is raising the
standard of Indian intelligence and border surveillance.
American officials have been very sensitive to Indian
needs after the Kargil war," said Anupam Srivastava,
executive director of the South Asia program at the
University of Georgia, who closely monitors US-India
military ties. After the attacks of September 11, 2001,
US officials who clearly saw Pakistani complicity in
terrorism became more sympathetic to India's needs.
"They couldn't criticize Pakistan openly because it was
a partner in their 'war on terrorism', but they decided
to help India with the radar system," Srivastava said.
The special gear now on the way to fight back
terrorists creeping into Kashmir bolsters the same line
of thinking along with the larger vision articulated by
Bush and Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee of a
broader, deeper and wider strategic relationship. It was
the fifth meeting of the DPG but the most successful so
far. How far and how quickly things move will now depend
on the innovativeness of bureaucrats from both sides who
manage the subsets of the DPG spanning all three arms of
the defense forces and a high-technology cooperation
group.
For the first time, there is also an
interest in joint manufacturing of some military
equipment by private companies on both sides. India
allows 26 percent foreign collaboration in military
production by private companies but so far there are few
takers. But if US companies show an interest in joint
production, they would be a major source of momentum in
the relationship to say nothing of a lobbying force.
Apart from weapons, the two sides also set the
schedule for another year of joint military exercises
but this time they will be at "a qualitatively higher
level", officials said. Last year, Indian forces
practiced parachute jumps with US troops in cold Alaska,
conducted airlift operations in steaming Agra, and
completed a special counter-insurgency exercise in
India's northeast, and the two navies conducted a
four-day exercise in the Indian Ocean that included
anti-submarine training. All this is about to acquire a
"combat" content and grow from mere "joint operations"
to real test of skills and equipment.
Musharraf
reportedly expressed his displeasure at all this
exercising to Bush at Camp David in June. He is worried
that India will know all his secrets as it grows
familiar with US doctrines, equipment and technology
since Pakistan's arsenal is mainly American.
In
the eternal triangle, this week the US-India arm was
certainly stronger.
(Asia Times Online)
|
| |
|
|
 |
|
