PRESIDENT Obama agreed to a sale of over $5 billion worth of US arms to India during his November 2010 trip to New Delhi. This included ten C-17 military aircraft and 100 F-14 fighter planes.

America has rapidly become a favourite Indian source of military hardware since 2005 when Bush, disregarding the US's commitment under the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, signed a major bilateral nuclear development assistance pact.

Seeking to capitalise on this goodwill the Obama administration is pressing for finalisation of major weapons investment and trade contracts between India and the US firms. Weapons sales between India and America have also been bolstered due to India's continuous participation since February 2010 in counter terrorism and civilian space co-operation activities with the US.

Despite increased American sourcing, Russia still remains India's biggest arms supplier. Unlike the US, Russia and Israel do not undertake end use monitoring of their arms sales to India. Russia leased a nuclear submarine to India in 2010 and there are almost no restrictions on nuclear equipment sales purchase in Russia for India.

Collaboration between the Indian military research agency --- the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) -- and Russia is very close. For example, in 2006 DRDO and the Russian military jointly produced the Brah/Moss cruise missile.

This is a supersonic missile combining Russian propulsion and Indian guidance technology. But Russia is becoming incapable of supplying India with cutting edge military technology — electronic warfare equipment and unmanned aircraft ('drones'). Drones are already reported to be in action in parts of Occupied Kashmir and areas controlled by Maoist and Bodo fighters in Jharkhand and North East India.

Russia is losing the Indian weapons market to Israel which has developed an impressive capacity to produce and market precision guided munitions. Israel is now India's second largest arms supplier --- and the annual value of this trade is rapidly approaching $3 billion and is expected to double within the next three years. Israeli equipment is available without any strings attached. India is free to use it as and where it deems fit. DRDO and Israeli firms are developing a framework of co-operation for the joint production of high tech weapons, specially drones.

The Israeli arms are helping India to fight against insurrectionary forces and peasant movements in particular.Indian trade unions have often expressed anguish and apprehension at this changed policy orientation in Indian military strategy.

European firms are also major weapons suppliers to India. In 2010 BAE Systems (UK) signed a contract to supply advanced jet trainers to India. Firms that have recently won large arms sales contracts include Lockheed Martin and the amphibious USSS Trenton was sold to India in 2007. Boeing won a $2 billion contract in 2009 to sell India eight maritime reconnaissance aircraft.

Boeing, Lockheed Martin and French and Swedish firms are trying to win a $15 billion contract for the sale of the 126 multi-role combat aircraft to India. This will be essentially a contract in which the supplier will acquire maintenance responsibility and the US is keen to make this contract the bedrock to acquire a long-run dominance over India's air war capacity. This is what the USSR did by the sale of the MIG 35 aircraft to India during the 1960s.

Indian military strategists are at least, at present conscious of the costs of institutionalising the US dominance. They insist on privileged access to manufacturing technology behind the weapons they purchase. They also insist on a phase out of weapons use monitoring specially with reference to deployment of the US-supplied weapons against Pakistan and in Occupied Kashmir.

Since Obama's November-2010 visit, the US administration appears increasingly willing to abandon end use monitoring requirements. Obama as part of the strategy to increase the military pressure on Pakistan has agreed to eliminating a raft of restrictions on arms exports and space and military technology access to India.

Removing these restrictions is being used to secure the US footing within the Indian military equipment procurement system which is being redesigned by India under the US pressure. International organisations specially the World International Property Organization (WIPO) is being adroitly used to force concessions from India to US firms.

The US military strategist, Stephen Cohen, (currently at the Brookings Institute) argues that the US should go for long-run military collaboration with India. It should fund projects that bear fruit over a 15-20 years period. The feeling is that in fifteen years, Pakistan will have been militarily neutralised and India's military strategy will necessarily become China focused.

Moreover, Cohen argues for that integrating India as a junior partner within the existing US dominated global arms economy is much more important than obtaining short-term arms sale deals for the US firms.