India confused between US and Russia as the Arms supplier
Sonal Joshi
Jun. 25, 2005

India may be totally confused between buying arms from Russia and America. While Indian military feels comfortable with Russian Arms, the Government wants to please the Bush Administration in order to main the status quo in “most favored nation for service outsourcing in US.”

The defense minister is under the gun to0 confess what he “has to buy” from America. The common feeling in Indian military establishments is that of lack of reliability as a supplier of Arm since America attaches these matters to international politics.

At the same time US is showing signs of making India its close ally in the international matters. What it really boils down to is dollar earned by India to pay for the arms. India may have to buy American arms to get rid of the trade surplus through business outsourcing contracts from America.

According to media sources in India, Defense Minister Pranab Mukherjee said on Friday that his four-day visit to the US, starting on Saturday, will be mainly "exploratory" and added he was not going there to shop for military hardware.

The visit was discussed on Friday at the two-and-a-half hour meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS). "I am not going with a shopping list. This is a visit by an Indian Defence minister to the US after a long time," Mukherjee said, when asked whether India will negotiate the purchase of F-16 warplanes that the US has offered. Mukherjee is scheduled to meet US Vice-President Dick Cheney, National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley, and his counterpart, Donald Rumsfeld.

The visit comes in the backdrop of the US agreeing to cooperate with India on military hardware. However, Mukherjee said no decision (on purchase of Defence hardware) was expected during the visit. "The visit will be ... to expand and widen relations between India and the US. It will be wrong to say I am going there to buy equipment," he said.

The visit comes ahead of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s visit to the US next month. In the run-up to the PM’s visit, National Security Adviser M K Narayanan and Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran have held intensive talks with their American interlocutors, to firm up the agenda.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has also held preparatory meetings in the Capital, while Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Nicholas Burns met the Foreign Secretary.

About meetings between Indian and US officials today, sources said no decision had been taken on the purchase of F-16s. Only technological and commercial aspects of the aircraft were assessed, they added.

On purchase of P3C Orion surveillance aircraft for the Navy, officials said it was being examined, and added an agreement regarding research, development, testing and evaluation of Defence hardware could be reached during Pranab’s visit.

Asked whether having permanent Indian representatives in US Central and Pacific commands was under consideration, the officials said no decision had been taken yet. Mukherjee said the CCS discussed the Ministry’s reports on security in J-K, N-E and Naxalite-affected areas.

India confused between US and Russia as the Arms supplier
Sonal Joshi
India may be totally confused between buying arms from Russia and America.
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