The Trump administration is looking to increase arms sales to India in the wake of deadly border clashes between India and China. The US has laid the groundwork for new arms sales to India in recent months. Prominent among the announcements was the announcement by the Trump administration changing its interpretation of the Missile Technology Control Regime to permit export of armed drones by speed and weight of warhead. This will allow the US to consider the sale of armed drones, which had previously been restricted because of their speeds and payloads, to allow them to be considered alongside surveillance drones.
President Donald Trump had officially amended rules that restrict the sale of military-grade drones to foreign partners like India.
Simultaneously, a legislative move has been made to bring India on par with North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) allies when it comes to sale of arms by the US.
Friends of India in the Congress hope that their efforts go through the National Defence Authorisation Act this year.
ALSO READ India-US : India, US Set to Deepen Strategic Relationship
US’ defence sales to India has jumped from near zero in 2008 to over $20 billion this year. Some of the recent and significant prior defence sales are to include the MH-60R Seahawk helicopters ($2.8 billion), the Apache helicopters ($796 million), and the Large Aircraft Infrared Countermeasure ($189 million).
India was the first non-treaty partner to be offered a Missile Technology Control Regime Category-1 Unmanned Aerial System – the Sea Guardian UAS manufactured by General Atomics.
The US is advocating for the Lockheed Martin’s F-21 and Boeing’s F/A-18 Super Hornet and F-15EX Eagle as part of India’s future fighter aircraft acquisitions.
The potential selection of any of these platforms would enhance India’s military capabilities, increase US-India military interoperability, and protect shared security interests in the Indo-Pacific region.
Since 2015, the US also authorised India over $3 billion in defence articles via the Direct Commercial Sales (DCS) processes, which licenses the export of the defence equipment, services, and related manufacturing technologies controlled under the 21 categories of the US Munitions List (USML). The top DCS categories to India during this period were military electronics (USML category XI); fire control, laser, imaging, and guidance equipment (category XII); and aircraft and related articles.
In 2016, the US designated India as a Major Defence Partner. Commensurate with the designation, in 2018, India was elevated to Strategic Trade Authorisation Tier 1 status, which allows it to receive licence-free access to a wide range of military and dual-use technologies regulated by the Department of Commerce, a top Pentagon official had earlier said.
Industry Collaboration Forum
The US and India have set up an industry collaboration forum under the Defence Technology and Trade Initiative (DTTI). The DTTI is tasked with co-development of military technologies. The forum will have a standing mechanism for developing and sustaining dialogue between the Indian and US industry on defence technology and industrial cooperation.
Agreed upon on July 14, it would open many possibilities for the two countries. The forum will provide an opportunity to individual members of the private sector to provide facts, data, expertise, or other relevant information on possible projects to the Indian Ministry of Defence (MoD) and also to the US Department of Defence (DoD).
The US and India are negotiating a co-development programme for the air-launched unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), according to US Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment Ellen Lord. This will be done by the US Air Force research labs, DRDO, IAF and an Indian startup. Noting that the US defence sales to India has grown exponentially over the past 10 years, Lord said the US was striving to become India’s first choice in defence solutions.
ALSO READ India-US : Deal for 24 MH-60R Naval Helicopters Announced
“Beyond Alliances”
External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar, speaking at the U.S. India Business Council’s India Ideas Summit, on 23 July, said that the U.S. needs to learn to work with a more multipolar world and “go beyond” alliances.
“We have the ability today, by working together to shape the world…We are working on maritime security, counter-terrorism, connectivity, how to respond in the case of corona to pandemics…even issues like climate change, the knowledge economy. So, I think a large part of it is how do we actually, while strengthening our bilateral agenda, shape a larger agenda,” he said.
Mark Warner, Democratic Senator from Virginia and Co-Chair of the Senate India Caucus, a discussant in the panel with. Jaishankar, called for a technological “alliance of the willing” to counter China’s domination in the field.
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, speaking at the same summit via recorded message, said, “It’s important that democracies like ours work together, especially as we see more clearly than ever the true scope of the challenge posed by the Chinese Communist Party.”
The Secretary listed examples of India and the U.S. working together — including the Quad and the World Intellectual Property Organisation elections earlier this year (in which a Singaporean candidate for director won against a Chinese candidate).
On China’s claims to the maritime territories of Asian countries and aggressive actions there, he said that the US “will use the tools we have, we will support all countries across the world that recognise that China has violated their territorial claims, their maritime claims as well. We will provide them with assistance”.
Bipartisan Support
India has received a strong bipartisan support from members of the US Congress against the recent Chinese military aggression in Ladakh. At a time when there is a bitter political divide in Washington DC, influential lawmakers from both the GOP and Democratic Party have been supporting Indian stand against China.
Support to India against China has come in the form of tweets, public speeches, House and Senate floor, letters to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and India’s Ambassador to the US, Taranjit Singh Sandhu, and Congressional resolutions. Several lawmakers have also made a call to Sandhu to express their outrage against China.
ALSO READ US, Indian Naval Exercise A Clear Signal to China
Comments
Both India and the U.S. are currently grappling with a more assertive China and tensions in their bilateral relationships with China.
The principal basis for strategic convergence between USA and India is the shared misgivings about China’s growing aggressiveness across much of Asia. Despite a spate of efforts on the part of the Narendra Modi government in India to improve relations with China, including the staging of two high-level summits at Wuhan and then in Chennai, it had made little headway. Instead, clashes with China’s army along the so-called Line of Actual Control in May and June highlighted the limits of India’s diplomatic overtures. The border incidents shocked Modi’s government into reassessing its entire approach toward its northern neighbor. Clearly, expanding trade ties and diplomatic outreach had done little to improve the security issues dividing the two countries.
========
Would Joe Biden in the White House be Good for India
Much has been made of the personal bonhomie between US President Donald Trump and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The Trump administration has largely treated India as a cash register for American defense contractors. While pushing defence sales, the President has threatened to sanction India over its transactions with Russia and complicated the country’s long-standing ties to Iran.
Trump’s zero-sum, winner-takes- all worldview collide with India’s priorities on trade, energy, defense, and immigration, and do not create a fertile ground for cooperation. A Joe Biden administration promises to do better.
Democrats’ US presidential candidate Joe Biden has made a poll promise that the US will continue to invest In strategic ties with India. There is not much different between the party’s 2020 platform and that in 2016, when former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was the presidential nominee.
Unlike in 2016, the current proposed platform makes no mention of Pakistan and this time, it has elaborated its policy on China in more detail than ever in the past.
“Democrats’ approach to China will be guided by America’s national interests and the interests of our allies.” The 2020 proposed platform also stated that America must approach its relationship with China with confidence.
As compared to China being mentioned 22 times in the latest platform, it figured only seven times in 2016. There is no mention of Tibet in the proposed 2020 platform of the Democratic party. “We will promote greater respect for human rights, including the rights of Tibetans,” it said in its 2016 platform.
According to the proposed 2020 platform, if voted to power, the Democrats will take aggressive action against China or any other country that tries to undercut American manufacturing by manipulating their currencies and maintaining a misaligned exchange rate with the dollar, dumping products like steel and aluminum in US markets, or providing unfair subsidies.
“There’s no question that under his (Biden) leadership, he would help shape international institutions like the UN to give India a (permanent) seat on the Security Council, he would fulfill its (India) status as a major defence partner,” former U.S. Ambassador to India Richard Verma said to make a pitch to support and vote for Joe Biden.
[…] ALSO READ INDIA-UNITED STATES: India’s Growing Strategic Convergence With USA […]