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US salvoes across South
Asia
By Kaushik Kapisthalam
Even as an authoritative report from an
arm of the US government warned of a potential
nuclear war in South Asia triggered by an "arms
race" between India and Pakistan, the George W
Bush administration is working hard to complete
arms sales and transfers of astronomical
proportions to the two nations.
Congress report
The Congressional Research
Service (CRS) is part of the Library of Congress
and provides regular, non-partisan research and
analysis reports to
members of Congress on policy issues. A recent CRS
report on US-Pakistan relations stated, "US policy
analysts consider the apparent arms race between
India and Pakistan as posing perhaps the most
likely prospect for the future use of nuclear
weapons by states."
The report also noted
that since Pakistan's decision to be part of the
US-led coalition in the "war on terror" in 2001,
the US has taken significant steps to provide
military support to Islamabad. It noted that the
March 25 decision by the Bush administration to
release advanced F-16 fighter jets to Pakistan was
just the latest in a series of major US weapons
sales and grants to that nation.
The
report added that between 2003 and now, the US had
given to Pakistan six C-130 military transport
aircraft ($75 million grant); six Aerostat
surveillance radars ($US155 million sale); 12
radars and 40 Bell transport helicopters ($300
million sale); military radio systems ($78 million
sale).
Proposed sales include eight P-3C
maritime reconnaissance aircraft, six Phalanx ship
protection weapons systems and 2,000 TOW anti-tank
missiles (worth up to $1.2 billion), and the
recently proposed sale of 300 Sidewinder
air-to-air missiles and 60 Harpoon anti-ship
missiles (worth $226 million).
Even the
deals marked as "sale" may be partially or fully
funded by the $1.5 billion annual US military
assistance to Pakistan. It must be noted that
apart from aid, the Pentagon's budget includes
$100 million per month to be given to Pakistan as
"compensation" for its "war on terror" efforts.
Enter the Spruance
On May 9,
the US Defense Department sent mandatory
notifications to Congress about potential naval
equipment sales 
and transfers to allied nations. One of the items
is the decommissioned US Navy vessel USS Fletcher,
which is slated to be transferred to Pakistan on a
grant basis. This means that the vessel is
essentially given to Pakistan free of charge, with
the latter having to pay only for transportation
charges.
The Fletcher, ship number DD-992,
is a Spruance-class destroyer. Such vessels are
about 563-feet long and displace over 9,000 tons
and outsize every single ship in India's surface
naval fleet except aircraft carriers, and thereby
would give Pakistan a visible confidence boost
when it compares its navy with India's. The US
Navy has decommissioned all of its 24
Spruance-class vessels. The Fletcher was one of
the last such ships to be decommissioned when it
went out of service on October 1, 2004.
Typically, there are three parts to any
modern navy - surface fleet, submarine fleet and
naval aviation. In naval power, India has had an
overwhelming numerical superiority over Pakistan.
However, Pakistan has the qualitative superiority
in two of the three areas - submarines and
aviation.
Pakistan's Agosta-90B submarines
are more advanced than any of India's current subs
and India seems to be unable to make up its mind
on new purchases. Even if India orders new subs
tomorrow, it will take five to 10 years for them
to arrive, and Pakistan will maintain its edge
until then. Pakistan's P-3C Orion planes give it a
clear edge in terms of naval reconnaissance.
India's surface fleet is still powerful, but the
Spruance-class acquisition is a clear
psychological edge for Pakistan. The Fletcher will
tower over any Indian destroyer and has more
advanced armaments. This is a clear attitude
changer. India's acquisition of the carrier
Gorshkov will give it a boost, but carriers are
sitting ducks when faced with an enemy that has
higher-quality submarines and ship-killers.
While Spruance-class vessels were
originally built to hunt and kill enemy submarines
under all weather conditions, they have since been
modified to carry missiles. Each of these ships
has a 61-cell vertical launch missile system
capable of launching Tomahawk cruise missiles, as
well as shorter-range Harpoon missiles. The ship
also carries ASROC rocket-launched torpedoes that
can home in on a submarine until it destroys it.
Many would consider the impending Spruance-class
acquisition by Pakistan to be a key milestone in
the naval annals of Asia.
Ironically, the
USS Fletcher invokes bad memories for some in
India. In April 2004, the Fletcher made a call on
the Indian port of Chennai while it was on its way
back to its home base in San Diego after
completing its last mission as part of the US
operations in Iraq. The Fletcher ruffled feathers
in the Indian Navy by not flying the Indian flag
while in Indian waters, as well as when it was
berthing. It is an internationally agreed practice
that every foreign ship entering the territorial
waters (12 nautical miles) of another country
should fly the flag of the host country, along
with its own flag.
Experts baffled
Defense and naval experts are unsure about the
rationale behind what they see as Pakistan's
disproportionately large naval acquisitions from
the US. The Spruance-class destroyer, they note,
is an extremely capable ship, but may turn out to
be too cumbersome for the Pakistan navy.
Typically, smaller navies that are confronted by
larger adversaries tend to focus on littoral
defense as well as smaller anti-submarine capable
vessels, they add.
While they do carry
excellent anti-submarine capabilities,
Spruance-class vessels have typically been used as
escorts for American carrier-battle groups, which
are offensive assets by design. These vessels are
used to launch a barrage of missiles onto the
adversary's targets near the coastline. It is to
be noted that Pakistan is already set to receive
advanced Harpoon-II missiles, which the
Spruance-class destroyers are capable of
launching. "If the Americans want to bolster
Pakistan's naval defense against India, it is
unclear why they are giving them a vessel that is
clearly made to be used in offensive operations,"
one Western expert questioned.
Another
curious aspect of the destroyer is that it would
cost Pakistan an estimated $40 million annually
just to operate the vessel. While Pakistan will
likely get the vessel for free, it would still
have to foot the bill for its operations. The
Fletcher acquisition therefore seems to be similar
to Pakistan's planned purchase of eight P-3C Orion
planes, which, along with Pakistan's existing
ones, seem to be an extraordinarily large number
for the small navy that Pakistan has, some note.
Even Pakistani military officials have
mentioned that Pakistan would be better positioned
if it went for a couple of smaller but newer
anti-submarine frigates instead of a
Spruance-class ship, which the US has been eager
to give to its allies since it began
decommissioning them in the 1990s. It is unclear
at this stage if such big-ticket items are meant
to really help Pakistan's military, or if they are
designed to be showpieces to quell anti-American
sentiments inside Pakistan.
'Junk' for
India?
The May 9 notification to Congress
also included a possible sale of a ship to India.
The vessel in question is the Austin-class
Amphibious Transport Dock USS Trenton. Amphibious
Transport Docks are used to transport large
numbers of troops over long distances by sea. The
Indian navy, according to many, is in dire need of
such vessels. However, the US offer of the Trenton
has raised many questions.
The Trenton was
commissioned in 1971 and is not considered to be
in good shape. The United States Marine Corps'
Expeditionary Warfare division, which uses
Amphibious Transport Docks, has long complained of
the Austin class vessels' problems, which include
"poor habitability and deteriorating working
conditions" among other things. One Indian
observer bluntly called the Trenton "a piece of
junk". To add to this, the US wants India to pay
top dollar for this ship, unlike the grant given
to Pakistan.
However, some contacts in
Washington and New Delhi circles feel that the
Spruance-class vessel transfer to Pakistan may be
a precursor to a transfer of the advanced Aegis
combat system for Indian ships, which can monitor
vast areas of the ocean for other ships and air
activities.
The Washington Post recently
quoted Pentagon officials as saying that the US
was considering the sale of the Aegis system and
maritime patrol aircraft to India as a measure
that would help Indian ships "monitor" China's
activities in the Indian neighborhood and the
strategic Malacca Strait. The contacts say that if
India was willing to join up with the US-led
global missile defense network, the Aegis was
"there for India to buy". Given that sales of
systems like the Aegis to India could provoke an
apoplectic reaction in Islamabad, the US may be
trying to soften up Pakistan by offering them
goodies in advance, the reasoning goes.
While Pakistan seems to be eager to get as
much as possible from the US at no cost or paid
for by US aid, India seems to be willing to pay
for its needs. This is because Delhi is wary of
seemingly "free" items from the US that almost
always come with strings attached in terms of
policy flexibility in other areas.
During
Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's recent
visit to the US, the Washington grapevine was
abuzz with potential US-Indian military deals
worth up to $15 billion in the next five to six
years. While the Indian Air Force's tender for 126
fighter jets is rumored to be the prime component
of the package, sales of the Aegis system and the
Patriot PAC-3 missile system are not said to be
far behind.
Whatever happens in the next
few years, American military contractors are
anticipating booming times, thanks to the US
policy shifts with India and Pakistan.
Kaushik Kapisthalam is a
freelance defense and strategic affairs analyst
based in the United States. He can be reached at
contact@kapisthalam.com
(Copyright
2005 Asia Times Online Ltd. All rights reserved.
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