Assessing Indo-US defence ties

There is an interesting but uncomfortable dichotomy in United Statesrsquo relations with India and Pakistan For India there is untrammelled praise soaring rhetoric about the two great democracies and our destiny as natural allies But there is little else Pakistan gets a lot of harsh words and complaints but along with that comes generous dollops of aid mdashboth military and developmentalAll of these have been on display in recent weeks in the visits of senior US officials to New Delhi on one hand and the wellchoreographed drama wherein the Pakistan Army has launched an offensive in North Waziristan and the US has released 8 million in aid and will soon be forthcoming with the latest tranche of Coalition Support Funds reportedly of the order of 300 million with perhaps even more coming by way of security assistance and humanitarian aid in the coming monthsThe US has emerged as a major supplier of defence equipment and US Secretary of Defence Chuck Hagel pointed out that India had bought some 9 billion worth of US equipment PicAFPAs for India the rhetoric has soared even higher with US Secretary of Defence Chuck Hagel developing a connectedness between two countries wherein one a teasellerrsquos son becomes prime minister and in another the child of a Kenyan father becomes president But for those looking at the substance of the relationship it would be hard going Yes the US has emerged as a major supplier of defence equipment and as Hagel himself pointed out India had bought some 9 billion worth of US equipment mainly aircraft for the Navy and the Air Force The US is also hoping to quickly close a number of other deals mdash 14 billion worth of Apache attack helicopters 11 billion for 15 Chinook heavy lift helicopters 4 more P8I maritime patrol aircraft and so onBut when it comes to Indiarsquos deepest desire mdash to become a defence industrial power the US is somewhat circumspect In October 2013 when Prime Minister Manmohan Singh visited Washington DC we were conferred the title of ldquoclosest partnerrdquo But as for actual agreements on these transfers we are still some distance away The Joint Declaration on Defence Cooperation that was released at the time committed the two countries to identify ldquocollaborative projects in advanced defence technologies and systems within the next yearrdquoA year before that the then Defence Secretary Leon Panetta had announced a Defence Trade and Technology Initiative DTTI whose selfstated goal of the initiative was to shift from a buyerseller relationship to one involving coproduction and codevelopment As last yearrsquos joint declaration put it the ldquoclosest partnersrdquo would collaborate in ldquodefence technology transfer trade research codevelopment and coproduction for defence articles and services including the most advanced and sophisticated technologyrdquoBut the search for collaborative projects has run up against the wall of an understandable US desire to keep its highquality technology to itself As it is US licensing procedures and the Indian refusal to sign certain agreements such as the Communications Interoperability amp Security Memorandum of Agreement CISMOA have made forward movement difficult The US like all countries which possess topquality technology is not likely to share it with anyone In that context Indiarsquos decision to allow 49 per cent FDI means littleJust how restricted the American perspective is likely to be is evident from what is on offer In June this year Frank Kendall US Secretary of Defence for Acquisition Technology and Logistics the point man for the DTTI said that the US had a ldquoground breaking offerrdquo to share the next generation Javelin missile for codevelopment and coproduction a helicopter programme and an unmanned aerial vehicle programme and an artillery gunThe gun is presumably the M777 155 mm which the US is offering for direct sale As for the Javelin there is nothing particularly earthshaking about the offer since it is really about developing another kind of a warhead for the missile which is already in service with the US and several other countries Further the offer seems aimed at stymieing the sale of the Israeli Spike which is a global competitor of the Javelin The helicopter and the UAV too are items that are on a list for acquisition by India through a competitive process since there are several potential vendors for the itemsThere is nothing on the list which is unique such as for example the nuclear propelled ballistic missile submarine or the supersonic Brahmos missile that Russia has helped India to build or the longrange surfacetoair missile LRSAM which is being codeveloped with Israel The Americans seem to be using the DTTI to push aside competing vendors rather than offering something we would not be able to get elsewhere If so India needs to tread carefully because it has important arms and technology transfer relationships with some of the countries like Israel and Russia which it also needs to preserve since they have stood by us in difficult times in the pastA lot of the things are hanging in the air because IndoUS relations are doing so as well Given Indiarsquos reticence in giving any kind of political shape to the partnership with the US Washington is understandably stringing New Delhi along with promises Modirsquos forthcoming visit to Washington DC could be an opportunity to move forward in some of the issues But the problem today is the enormous geopolitical flux generated in part by Chinarsquos growth and assertiveness and in part by the chaos in the Middle East Handled wisely it could advance Indiarsquos cause but if not could well lead us to a deadendThe writer is a Distinguished Fellow Observer Research Foundation New Delhi