US approves USD 428 million defence support packages for India

The United States has approved two proposed defence support packages for India worth a combined 4282 million covering longterm sustainment for M777A2 UltraLight Howitzers and followon support for AH64E Apache attack helicopters according to notifications published by the PentagonThe notices issued by the Defense Security Cooperation Agency DSCA and published in the Federal Register last week were recently delivered to the US Congress The proposed sales involve support services and logistics rather than new major defence equipmentThe larger of the two packages is valued at 230 million and covers longterm sustainment support for Indiarsquos M777A2 UltraLight Howitzers The proposed package includes ancillary items spares repair and return services training technical assistance field service representatives depot capability and other related logistics and programme supportIn a policy justification accompanying the notification the Pentagon said ldquoThis proposed sale will support the foreign policy and national security objectives of the United States by helping to strengthen the USIndian strategic relationship and to improve the security of a major defense partner which continues to be an important force for political stability peace and economic progress in the IndoPacific and South Asia regionsrdquoThe Pentagon added that the proposed sale ldquowill improve Indiarsquos capability to meet current and future threats strengthen its homeland defense and deter regional threatsrdquoThe principal contractor for the M777A2 support package is BAE Systems based in Cumbria United Kingdom The notification stated that implementation of the sale ldquowill not require the assignment of any additional US Government or contractor representatives to IndiardquoA second notification valued at 1982 million covers followon support for Indiarsquos AH64E Apache helicopters The package includes Apache sustainment support services US government and contractor engineering technical and logistics support services technical data and publications personnel training and related logistics and programme supportThe Pentagon used nearly identical language in its justification saying the sale would support US foreign policy goals and strengthen the security of a major defence partner in the IndoPacific region It also said the package would improve Indiarsquos ability to address current and future threats while strengthening homeland defence and deterrence capabilitiesAccording to the notification the principal contractors for the Apache support package are Boeing based in Arlington Virginia and Lockheed Martin based in Orlando Florida The Pentagon said there would be ldquono adverse impact on US defence readinessrdquo as a result of the proposed saleThe notices emphasised that neither proposed sale involves Major Defence Equipment and that no offset agreements are known at this time Both cases are funded through Indiarsquos national fundsIndia has emerged as one of the United Statesrsquo most important defence partners over the past two decades with bilateral defence trade growing from near zero in 2008 to more than 20 billion The two countries have also expanded military exercises defence technology cooperation and logistics arrangementsThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever