INDO-US ARMS EMBRACE

A CLOSE US-INDIA DEFENCE PARTNERSHIP PRODUCTION INVOLVING JOINT AND TECHNOLOGY IS TAKING SHAPE. TRANSFERS ITS AIM: TO COUNTER THE CHINA THREAT AND REDUCE DEPENDENCE ON RUSSIAN ARMS

-  Pradip R. Sagar

As Russia, traditionally India's largest arms supplier, fights a protracted war in Ukraine that has just passed the one-year mark, there have been reports in the western media about its difficulties in supplying its military with the necessary hardware. Whatever their veracity, India-amongst the world's largest buyer of military hardware between the periods 2012-16 and 2017-21-has been looking for alternatives to Russian military equipment for some time. With Indian imports of Russian defence materiel dropping 47 per cent in the two periods, the United States is sensing an opportunity to take over the space left vacant by Moscow. However, almost 66 per cent of Indian military inventory is of Russian origin. Ninety per cent of the Indian army's arsenal is Russian origin, the navy's Russian inventory is close to 40 per cent and 70 per cent of Indian Air Force equipment is Russian.

The US has been supplying multiple platforms to the Indian military in the past decade but has never shared critical technology with India, despite designating the country as a major defence partner in 2016, thus putting it on par with its closest allies.

Now, Washington is thinking differently about critical technology transfer. The border stand-off between India and China along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) has lent it urgency, since both India and the US have a common adversary in Beijing, and Washington wants to boost New Delhi's firepower. The rapidly changing geopolitical scenario in the wake of the Ukraine conflict has also influenced its thinking.