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Forces split on US deals
Sujan Dutta
New Delhi, Dec. 5: The Indian armed forces are conflicted over three pacts that the US is pushing even as defence minister Manohar Parrikar is in Hawaii today for briefings from the US Pacific Command.
The pacts, referred to as the "foundational agreements" for military-to-military relations by the Pentagon, are a logistics support agreement (LSA), the basic exchange and cooperation agreement for geo-spatial cooperation (Beca) and a communications interoperability and secrecy memorandum of agreement (Cismoa).
The Indian Navy is the only one of the armed forces that is comfortable with all the agreements. It has indicated as much to successive governments over the past decade. The pacts were first proposed in the year 2002.
The army and the air force are concerned over compromising sensitive data by signing the LSA, Cismoa and Beca. But they have indicated that the agreements may be signed if ways could be found around some of the clauses just as they were found when it came to signing an end user verification agreement with the US in 2009.
"The LSA, Cismoa and Beca are talked about. The government will take a call on them. Yes, they are being looked at seriously," the navy chief, Admiral Robin Dhowan, said this week when asked how important or unimportant the proposed agreements were.
Parrikar is accompanied on the visit to the US by the navy's southern commander in chief, Vice Admiral Sunil Lanba, who is likely to be the chief of naval staff after incumbent Dhowan's retirement.
The chief of integrated defence staff, Air Marshal P.P. Reddy, and the army's deputy chief (planning and systems) Lt General Subroto Saha would also be joining the defence minister. The US ambassador to India, Richard Verma, is also expected to be at the briefings and the discussions, the outcome of which has the potential to intensify India-US military-to-military relations to an altogether new level if a 10-year logjam over the "foundational pacts" is broken.
The army's objection to the LSA arises from disclosing locations and practices in operational theatres - such as in Jammu and Kashmir and in the Northeast to US troops.
Indian and US armed forces have a robust exchange of troops for exercises. But these are planned mostly in peace stations. The army is more comfortable with the idea of granting access to a selected number of its locations.
The Pentagon pushes the LSA saying that it would enable militaries to not only operate jointly but also cut costs. The US has similar agreements - sometimes also called the access and cross-servicing agreement (ACSA) - with some 80 countries.
Only the Indian Navy has something close to the LSA with the US - called the fuel exchange agreement (FEA). Indian warships can refuel from US tankers under the agreement without having to pay cash. The US' vessels can similarly refuel in India.
The IAF has issues over the Cismoa because it may result to a recording of aircraft data that would disclose how the IAF operates. The IAF has sourced transport and special forces aircraft from the US - the C-130 Hercules and the C-17 Globemaster that are currently being used in relief operations in southern India. But because India had not signed the "foundational" pacts, the aircraft were delivered without some sensors on board.
The IAF and the army are now in the middle of contracting the US for Apache attack helicopters and Chinook heavylifters.
There is discomfort in the establishment also over the Beca. One of the provisions in the agreement requires the exchange of classified terrain-mapping data. Such data can be fed into cruise missiles to determine their course.
But the US is saying not only that its law requires the signing of the pacts to transfer sensitive technology but also that defence trade would otherwise hit a roadblock for Prime Minister Narendra Modi's "Make in India" initiative.
Modi and US President Barack Obama renewed a defence trade and technology initiative (DTTI) in January this year. Four months later, defence minister Parrikar and US defence secretary Ashton Carter also renewed a 10-year India-US agreement on which rests the entire framework of bilateral military-to-military relations.
Sujan Dutta
New Delhi, Dec. 5: The Indian armed forces are conflicted over three pacts that the US is pushing even as defence minister Manohar Parrikar is in Hawaii today for briefings from the US Pacific Command.
The pacts, referred to as the "foundational agreements" for military-to-military relations by the Pentagon, are a logistics support agreement (LSA), the basic exchange and cooperation agreement for geo-spatial cooperation (Beca) and a communications interoperability and secrecy memorandum of agreement (Cismoa).
The Indian Navy is the only one of the armed forces that is comfortable with all the agreements. It has indicated as much to successive governments over the past decade. The pacts were first proposed in the year 2002.
The army and the air force are concerned over compromising sensitive data by signing the LSA, Cismoa and Beca. But they have indicated that the agreements may be signed if ways could be found around some of the clauses just as they were found when it came to signing an end user verification agreement with the US in 2009.
"The LSA, Cismoa and Beca are talked about. The government will take a call on them. Yes, they are being looked at seriously," the navy chief, Admiral Robin Dhowan, said this week when asked how important or unimportant the proposed agreements were.
Parrikar is accompanied on the visit to the US by the navy's southern commander in chief, Vice Admiral Sunil Lanba, who is likely to be the chief of naval staff after incumbent Dhowan's retirement.
The chief of integrated defence staff, Air Marshal P.P. Reddy, and the army's deputy chief (planning and systems) Lt General Subroto Saha would also be joining the defence minister. The US ambassador to India, Richard Verma, is also expected to be at the briefings and the discussions, the outcome of which has the potential to intensify India-US military-to-military relations to an altogether new level if a 10-year logjam over the "foundational pacts" is broken.
The army's objection to the LSA arises from disclosing locations and practices in operational theatres - such as in Jammu and Kashmir and in the Northeast to US troops.
Indian and US armed forces have a robust exchange of troops for exercises. But these are planned mostly in peace stations. The army is more comfortable with the idea of granting access to a selected number of its locations.
The Pentagon pushes the LSA saying that it would enable militaries to not only operate jointly but also cut costs. The US has similar agreements - sometimes also called the access and cross-servicing agreement (ACSA) - with some 80 countries.
Only the Indian Navy has something close to the LSA with the US - called the fuel exchange agreement (FEA). Indian warships can refuel from US tankers under the agreement without having to pay cash. The US' vessels can similarly refuel in India.
The IAF has issues over the Cismoa because it may result to a recording of aircraft data that would disclose how the IAF operates. The IAF has sourced transport and special forces aircraft from the US - the C-130 Hercules and the C-17 Globemaster that are currently being used in relief operations in southern India. But because India had not signed the "foundational" pacts, the aircraft were delivered without some sensors on board.
The IAF and the army are now in the middle of contracting the US for Apache attack helicopters and Chinook heavylifters.
There is discomfort in the establishment also over the Beca. One of the provisions in the agreement requires the exchange of classified terrain-mapping data. Such data can be fed into cruise missiles to determine their course.
But the US is saying not only that its law requires the signing of the pacts to transfer sensitive technology but also that defence trade would otherwise hit a roadblock for Prime Minister Narendra Modi's "Make in India" initiative.
Modi and US President Barack Obama renewed a defence trade and technology initiative (DTTI) in January this year. Four months later, defence minister Parrikar and US defence secretary Ashton Carter also renewed a 10-year India-US agreement on which rests the entire framework of bilateral military-to-military relations.
