US woos India to get larger share in defence market

[Major Shaitan Singh]

After its new military strategy for Asia-Pacific was received with apprehensions in India, the US on Monday went all out to woo New Delhi to step up bilateral defence trade and cooperation.

US Deputy Defense Secretary Dr Ashton Carter, who was visiting India as a point person of US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, underlined the US commitment for Indian military’s modernization and pitched New Delhi to purchase highest quality military equipment from Washington.

“As a country committed to enduring peace and security in the Asia-Pacific region, India deserves the best military equipment available. And we are prepared to help. We want to be India’s highest-quality and most trusted long-term supplier of technology in such fields as maritime domain awareness, counter terrorism and many others,” Carter said at the function of Confederation of Indian Industries (CII).

Without naming Russia that has been one of the biggest co-developer of India in various military projects, the US also offered to step up military ties between the two countries to cooperation with joint ventures in important projects. “We can conduct research and co-develop technologies together – like batteries and micro UAVs – good initial steps, with much more to come,” said Carter.

In the last ten years, the Indo-US defence trade has been worth $ 10 billion and in 2011 only India has purchased military equipments worth more than $ 4.5 billion. Carter, in fact, added that government to government purchases from the US is in India’s strategic and commercial interests.

Sidestepping the controversial issues of the US continuing aid to Pakistan and it propping India as a counter to China in the region, Carter contended that the US strategy to deploy 60 percent of its military assets in the Asia-Pacific region by 2020 has nothing to do with China’s rise. “Our re-balance is not about China or the United States or India or any other single country or group of countries: It is about a peaceful Asia-Pacific region, where sovereign states can enjoy the benefits of security and continue to prosper,” Carter added.

In a bid to woo Indian defence establishment further, Carter said that the US is addressing India’s concerns on the US Export Controls and Technology security policies. Trying to mollify the Indian defence establishment that alleged that the removal of DRDO and ISRO off the Commerce Department Entity List was merely on papers, Carter said: “We have an export control system to prevent high-end technology from getting to states that should not have it, but our system can be confusing, rigid and controls too many items for the wrong reasons. We know we need to improve it.”