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A first: US allowed to check Indian warship
India has for the first time permitted the US to inspect an Indian warship to ensure that the navy was not distorting its use, a senior source in the defence establishment has confirmed to The Telegraph.
This is the first time that India permitted an intrusive inspection of one of its key military platforms by foreigners.
Ironically, the first inspection in the country has happened under defence minister A.K. Antonys watch even though he is particularly touchy on the subject of defence relations with the US.
But instead of allowing the US Golden Sentry team to board and examine the equipment, the Indian Navy removed the equipment from the warship also imported from the US and asked the inspectors from Pentagon to check them at a different location.
The navy is still queasy and uncomfortable about allowing foreign inspectors to check its platforms. But it was complying with the provisions of an End-User Monitoring Agreement that India standardised with the US in 2009.
Asked about the inspection, an Indian defence ministry source said: This is really a matter for the navy and it is not up to us. We are not aware of it.
An Indian navy source said: We are complying with what was agreed between governments, but he declined to call the inspection intrusive.
Queried by The Telegraph, a US embassy official said: These (such inspections) are really in the domain of government-to-government relations between India and the US and in accordance with legal requirements.
The inspection took place in late 2011. Since then, the Indian Navy has refitted the INS Jalashva formerly the USS Trenton. Much of the new electronic equipment such as navigational aids have been manufactured in Indias own defence public sector undertakings like Bharat Electronics Limited.
The INS Jalashva (L41) was known as the USS Trenton before the Indian Navy inducted it in its eastern fleet in June 2007 at a cost of about $50 million plus about $40 million for six helicopters.
The purchase of the USS Trenton was red-flagged by the comptroller and auditor general in a March 2008 report.
The equipment the US inspectors asked to check were night-vision devices used by the INS Jalashva landing platform dock and its six onboard UH-3H Seaking maritime utility transport helicopters.
Distinctly uncomfortable with the US request to inspect the equipment, the navy at first tried to fob it off. But then reached a compromise.
The navy told the US inspectors that it would remove the components from the Jalashva that is based at the eastern fleet headquarters in Vishakhapatnam where they could be checked.
It is understood that the devices were removed from the ship and the helicopters and taken to an airfield/helipad where the inspection was carried out.
The Pentagons Defence Sales Cooperation Agency (DSCA) classified night-vision devices as highly sensitive equipment. Modern night-vision devices used on warships are sophisticated digitised machinery packed into waterproof containers with telescopic sights.
An image intensifier highlights the target being sighted and magnifies it to a level of light that allows the trained human eye to interpret them. The digital records of the images sighted through the device can be logged. Theoretically, an inspector can go through the logs to check the images that have been sighted and recorded.
India has signed or has in the pipeline $10 billion of US-origin military hardware. Each of the projects is liable to be inspected under the US Arms Export Control Act administered by the Pentagons DSCA that has to submit annual compliance reports.
The US has end-user agreements with about 80 countries but it is still politically unpalatable in many countries.
Military equipment, such as the INS Jalashva, purchased through a government-to-government foreign military sales programme are subject to inspections under the Pentagons Golden Sentry programme that dispatches Tiger Teams to do the job.
Direct commercial sales of military hardware by US-based companies to India are subject to inspections under a programme called Blue Lantern.
India has for the first time permitted the US to inspect an Indian warship to ensure that the navy was not distorting its use, a senior source in the defence establishment has confirmed to The Telegraph.
This is the first time that India permitted an intrusive inspection of one of its key military platforms by foreigners.
Ironically, the first inspection in the country has happened under defence minister A.K. Antonys watch even though he is particularly touchy on the subject of defence relations with the US.
But instead of allowing the US Golden Sentry team to board and examine the equipment, the Indian Navy removed the equipment from the warship also imported from the US and asked the inspectors from Pentagon to check them at a different location.
The navy is still queasy and uncomfortable about allowing foreign inspectors to check its platforms. But it was complying with the provisions of an End-User Monitoring Agreement that India standardised with the US in 2009.
Asked about the inspection, an Indian defence ministry source said: This is really a matter for the navy and it is not up to us. We are not aware of it.
An Indian navy source said: We are complying with what was agreed between governments, but he declined to call the inspection intrusive.
Queried by The Telegraph, a US embassy official said: These (such inspections) are really in the domain of government-to-government relations between India and the US and in accordance with legal requirements.
The inspection took place in late 2011. Since then, the Indian Navy has refitted the INS Jalashva formerly the USS Trenton. Much of the new electronic equipment such as navigational aids have been manufactured in Indias own defence public sector undertakings like Bharat Electronics Limited.
The INS Jalashva (L41) was known as the USS Trenton before the Indian Navy inducted it in its eastern fleet in June 2007 at a cost of about $50 million plus about $40 million for six helicopters.
The purchase of the USS Trenton was red-flagged by the comptroller and auditor general in a March 2008 report.
The equipment the US inspectors asked to check were night-vision devices used by the INS Jalashva landing platform dock and its six onboard UH-3H Seaking maritime utility transport helicopters.
Distinctly uncomfortable with the US request to inspect the equipment, the navy at first tried to fob it off. But then reached a compromise.
The navy told the US inspectors that it would remove the components from the Jalashva that is based at the eastern fleet headquarters in Vishakhapatnam where they could be checked.
It is understood that the devices were removed from the ship and the helicopters and taken to an airfield/helipad where the inspection was carried out.
The Pentagons Defence Sales Cooperation Agency (DSCA) classified night-vision devices as highly sensitive equipment. Modern night-vision devices used on warships are sophisticated digitised machinery packed into waterproof containers with telescopic sights.
An image intensifier highlights the target being sighted and magnifies it to a level of light that allows the trained human eye to interpret them. The digital records of the images sighted through the device can be logged. Theoretically, an inspector can go through the logs to check the images that have been sighted and recorded.
India has signed or has in the pipeline $10 billion of US-origin military hardware. Each of the projects is liable to be inspected under the US Arms Export Control Act administered by the Pentagons DSCA that has to submit annual compliance reports.
The US has end-user agreements with about 80 countries but it is still politically unpalatable in many countries.
Military equipment, such as the INS Jalashva, purchased through a government-to-government foreign military sales programme are subject to inspections under the Pentagons Golden Sentry programme that dispatches Tiger Teams to do the job.
Direct commercial sales of military hardware by US-based companies to India are subject to inspections under a programme called Blue Lantern.
