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Home : Media : News : News Article View

# India, US Advance Strategic Relations

By Vivek Raghuvanshi

                NEW DELHI  –              
The agreement,  which defines  steps  to be  taken  in the next 10 years  to bolster their bilateral defense partnership,   incorporates   for the first  time  a  provision to  co-produce  weapons  in India, along with transfer  of  technology through the  Defense Trade and Technology Initiative (DTTI).

Analysts  and  serving  military  officers, however,  said it  is  too early  to expect  co-development and  co-production  of  advanced  weapons systems, and   the  two countries  will need to   begin  with low-end projects  to become familiar with how  the  DTTI  will  work as  bureaucratic  hurdles  can impede  execution of such  projects.

At first, the two countries  will co-produce such low-end weapons as the  Raven UAV,  and reconnaissance modules for the C-130J Super Hercules aircraft bought  in  2008, said an Indian   Defence Ministry source.   More  products under  DTTI will  be identified   during next  month's  visit by  Frank Kendall,  US undersecretary of defense for acquisition, technology and logistics.

 Obama   was  the   first  US president  to be  the guest  at  the Jan. 26  Republic  Day parade. His visit received substantial attention  by the media, with  analysts  describing it  as  a watershed  event and the beginning of  a  new  era  in Indo-US  strategic relations under  the  Narendra Modi  government.  

Analysts  and  serving  officers,  however, are divided about whether stronger  Indo-US  strategic  and  defense ties would loosen those bonds between India and Russia. 

"Russia is a declining power with little to offer India outside of defense technology,"  said Ashley  Tellis, senior associate, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. "Ties with the US will be comprehensive, ties with Russia will be largely uni-dimensional. India actually comes out ahead in that way," Tellis said.

But Bharat Karnad, professor of national security studies at the Centre for Policy Research, said Indo-Russian defense  ties are  stable.

"Good relations with the US reflects aspiration, ties with Russia are hard reality. No substantive shift in policy is on the anvil, certainly nothing at the expense of India's relations with Moscow, especially because, unlike the US, Russia has partnered, and continues to partner, India in strategically sensitive technology projects ranging from missiles, ship submersibles, ballistic, nuclear submarines to the Fifth  Generation  Fighter  Aircraft,"  Karnad said.

The  Indian  military  for  decades  has  been equipped with Russian-made  weaponry  and  equipment  and  absorption  of  US-made  systems could  take time, said  a  senior  Indian  Air  Force  officer. 

"There  is a challenge in terms of technology-sharing due to US laws and on the part of India technology absorption. This would imply that only a low level of technology-sharing would be practical despite the good intent on both the sides,"  said Rahul  Bhonsle,  retired Indian Army brigadier general and defense analyst.

With  India-US  defense  ties  restricted  only to the purchase  of off-the-shelf  equipment, the  two countries  have had no experience in  joint weapon development and production,  unlike India's experience with Russia and  Israel,  the MoD  source  said.

 "I think the rise of US-Indian defense production will be slow. America's biggest defense market is domestic, not India.  India, in contrast, is one of Russia's two largest defense markets. The contrast explains everything," Tellis said.

Chintamani Mahapatra, professor at the School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, said, *"*There is no doubt that entry of US defense industries into the Indian market will slowly reduce the Russian share of the Indian market. But then the US alone is not going to replace Russia in terms of Indian defense acquisitions. India will continue to diversify its sources of arms purchase."

Since the US sanctions against India were lifted in 2001, India has purchased more than $9  billion in weaponry but it has not included   technology transfer,  which has been an Indian goal.   Unless  the  two countries  are  able to effectively  execute   co-production of  high-technology  weapon  systems,  Russia  will remain India's  main supplier, continue to transfer technology  and  the   hype  of  the Obama  visit will  be  slowly  lost,  the Air Force  officer  said.

"There is considerable concern in Moscow on the warmth shown toward President  Obama in New   Delhi, but behind the theatrics there has been nothing tangible in the defense and security field that should worry Russia for their primacy in combat systems remains on track," Bhonsle said.

But  Tellis  is optimistic. "I think there is a clear strategic judgment in India that important though Russia still is for India, Moscow represents the past, Washington represents the future." 

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