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Indo-U.S. defence talks today
By C. Raja Mohan
NEW DELHI, DEC. 2. After more than a decade of tentative efforts, India and the United States are now getting ready to unveil this week the road map to a robust defence partnership.
Senior officials from the Defence Ministry and the Pentagon will begin two days of talks here tomorrow to kick-start the on-again, off-again defence engagement between the two countries since the mid-1980s. The talks take place within the framework of the bilateral Defence Policy Group (DPG) set up nearly seven years ago.
The DPG is likely to examine the growing convergence of political interests in the Indian Ocean and Asia-Pacific regions, outline a broad agenda for cooperation between the armed forces of the two nations, and explore the prospects for enhanced sharing of defence technologies. The U.S. delegation is being led by Under-Secretary of Defence for Policy, Mr. Douglas Feith, who arrived here this morning. The Indian team will be headed by Mr. Yogendra Narain, Defence Secretary. At their meeting in Washington last month, the U.S. President, Mr. George W. Bush, and the Prime Minister, Mr. Atal Behari Vajpayee, directed the two defence establishments to intensify bilateral cooperation.
The Bush Administration's decision to lift sanctions imposed after India's nuclear tests in May 1998 cleared the last political hurdle to cooperation in the sensitive defence arena.
The DPG is the apex body to define and coordinate defence cooperation between the two countries and is led by civilian officials in the defence headquarters. At the DPG, the two sides are likely to exchange views on the current fluid security environment of Asia and the Persian Gulf regions and identify a set of common strategic objectives.
The DPG is expected to give broad directions to the services on deepening military-to-military cooperation. The nuts and bolts of this interaction - in the form of joint exercises, training and operations - will be worked out by the joint Steering Groups of the two armies, navies and air forces.
The two sides are also likely to look at increasing the transfers of military equipment and technology. The U.S. is ready to renew the supply of all the items in the pipeline when sanctions were imposed. These include the GE 404 engines for the Light Combat Aircraft (LCA), spares for Navy's Sea King helicopters and Sea Harrier jets, gun-locating radars, and cooperation in the development of flight control systems for the LCA. Besides seeking resumption of cooperation in these areas with some possible modifications, India is likely to look at purchase of military equipment from the U.S. The three services have been working out lists of items of interest.
India has had a special interest in acquiring advanced defence technology systems from the U.S. but was constrained by the severe American restrictions on technology transfer. The Bush Administration is said to be far more favourable than its predecessor in transferring defence and dual- use technologies to India. The extent of change in the American attitude will be evident at a meeting of the Joint Technical Group (JTG) on the sidelines of the DPG. The JTG brings together officials of the defence research and production establishments on both sides and operates under the political guidance of the DPG.
An important obstacle to more intensive arms transfer relationship is also likely to be removed at the earliest. The two sides are all set to wrap up an agreement on ensuring the secrecy of military information shared between the two establishments.
The General Security of Military Information Agreement (GSOMIA), which has been under consideration for more than a decade is likely to be clinched in the near future with both sides agreeing to reciprocal visits to each other's installations.
Attempts to structure bilateral defence cooperation goes back to mid-1980s, when Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi were at the helm in India. The end of the Cold War opened the doors for more cooperation, but differences on the nuclear issue held the two sides back. The conditions for a solid defence partnership now appear right with an Administration in Washington that is strongly committed to a new relationship with New Delhi. On the Indian side, there is a slow but certain recognition of the need to shed its long-standing military isolationism.
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