NEW DELHI: Indian Defence Minister George Fernandes will be visiting the United States to continue the discussions he had with the Secretary of State for Defence, Donald Rumsfeld on the nuts and bolts of defence supplies of which there had been a broad agreement between the two. These talks will be facilitated with the easing of sanctions by the US administration and is being held in a political atmosphere of both countries eager to establish an era of cooperative security.
In fact, clearance at the highest level for such a dialogue was given both by President George Bush and Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee when they met in Washington recently. In a joint statement, the two welcomed “the resumption of defence planning group” as a step towards increasing exchanges and technical cooperation in defence and security areas.
Such close consultations between the two countries had never existed between them and in fact, one of the media persons who had accompanied the prime minister to his Washington visit had even suggested that India and the US were on the threshold of concluding a military alliance. To prevent it from getting wider currency, it was promptly denied by the external affairs minister, Jaswant Singh.
Subsequently, the defence minister denied it had received any proposal from the US for such an alliance and said it had received specific requests for assistance in connection with operations during freedom. It also said that these requests conform to our existing policy guidelines for overflights and refuelling of aircraft at ports of call. These had been approved, the statement added.
Informed public opinion in the US, moreover, had discounted the possibility of any military alliance. For instance, Ted Galen Carpenter, vice president of the defence and policy studies in the United States has said that he considers it “extremely unlikely” that Washington will go out of its way to build military ties with India “that could jeopardize the delicate relationship it shares with Pakistan.”
Again, Professor Stephen Cohen has said that it is not safe “to build up India when its chief enemy is Pakistan.” Moreover according to Professor Cohen that India was still getting over its deep rooted suspicions of Washington as similarly on the US side, there were officials who still had to get rid of their world war era concerns that “India was still a client state of the Soviet Union.”
Expecting India to be initially a bit reluctant to be “overly reliant” given the history of their relationship, Carpenter was of the opinion that over a period of time, there would be a greater number of contracts and sales. In his assessment “the US will become a significant arms supplier.”
Thus while Fernandes would have to tailor his shopping list within the framework of these considerations, it is clear that he would seek to obtain a final signal on flight control system of the light combat aircraft, the advanced light helicopter programme, spares and servicing of seeking helicopters and the weapon locating radars.
