Far from the intrusive glare of the cameras that hope to capture all the defining moments of US President Barack Obama’s coming visit to India, a flurry of defence deals are likely to be signed between the two sides, including the purchase of 10 C-17 Globemaster transport aircraft at the cost of $3.5 billion, as well as an additional four P-8I long-range maritime reconnaissance aircraft (eight have already been contracted so far), estimated to cost another $2.1 billion.
Highly placed government sources, defining the Obama visit as a “work in progress,” played down the lack of big-ticket items that could raise the bilateral bar — such as an open US espousal for India to join an expanded UN Security Council as a permanent member — but agreed that defence acquisitions were fast emerging as a “strategic and diplomatic instrument of choice” that India could play to promote its own interests in the region.
Significantly, the contract for the 126 Medium, Multi-Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) worth a cool $10.6 billion is fast turning into the jewel of the crown of defence acquisitions, and although a decision will not be made over November-December — when America’s Obama, France’s Nicolas Sarkozy, Russia’s Dmitry Medvedev and a PM visit to Brussels in the heart of Europe takes place — fact is, that each of these countries is lobbying heavily for India to buy their fighter jets.
Obama’s administration has made no bones about the fact that it wants a significant chunk of the Indian defence pie, which is why a Joint Task Force on defence cooperation is likely to be set up during the Obama visit, that will not only go into all the procedural issues but also look at imparting strategic value to defence acquisitions.
Clearly, India feels it must offer the US a thanksgiving present in return for its intense lobbying efforts that pushed through the Indo-US nuclear deal, with the result that defence matters have moved to the heart of the strategic dialogue between the two countries. With the field evaluation trials having been completed for the MMRCA, Delhi is rife with speculation that the Eurofighter’s Typhoon — a fighter jet produced by a European consortium of nations consisting of Germany, the UK, Italy and Spain — has performed the best, while France’s Dassault Aviation’s Rafale has come in second.
The US’ Lockheed Martin with its F-16 Super Viper and Boeing’s F/A-18 Super Hornet, as well as Russia’s Mikoyan MiG-35 and Sweden’s Saab Gripen fighters are rumoured to follow in Eurofighter—Rafale’s wake.
But government sources cautioned Business Standard from jumping to too many conclusions on the MMRCA contract, pointing out that field trials were “only one of the parameters” that would be considered in the final analysis. “Price is another very important consideration, all things being equal, but India must also carefully look at the strategic value that a high-value contract like the MMRCA will impart to India,” the government sources said.
More From This Section
They argued that “strategic value” must be defined in terms of how each of these countries can help India expand its sphere of influence, “not limited to South Asia,” and especially help engage in complex strategies with China. “We have to ask ourselves, what can each of these countries, or groups of countries, can do for India,” the sources said, adding, “such a big decision can never only be made on the basis of performance on technical parameters. National interests are involved.”
The Europeans, keenly aware of the overwhelming importance of such a “strategic decision,” notwithstanding the Eurofighter’s reported lead in the MMRCA battle, sent the Eurofighter supervisory board consisting of CEOs of Eurofighter partner companies — such as Maurizio de Mitri of Alenia Aeronautica of Italy, Enzo Cassolini, CEO of Eurofighter, Christopher Boardman of BAE of Britian, Bernhard Gerwert of EADS’ subsidiary Cassidian Air Systems of Germany and Enrique Barrientos of Cassidian Spain — to lobby for their fighter jet to Delhi this week.
Eurofighter sources conceded to Business Standard that India’s “decision on the MMRCA would will also be a political decision, a very, very important strategic decision, one based on its national interest”.
They pointed out that Eurofighter wanted to transfer its technology over time so as to help indigenise the fighter jet, so that India could emerge as a “’full-fledged industrial partner in Eurofighter’s global chain.”
In comparison, the Eurofighter sources said, US’ Lockheed Martin and Boeing would “never create the conditions for technology transfer to India…Yes, these companies might create thousands of blue-collar jobs when these companies offer licence-production to India, but they will never allow the transfer of sensitive technologies.”
Clearly, as Obama comes to India, the defence battle has been joined by the Europeans (the PM goes to the India-European summit in Brussels on December 9-10), by the French (Sarkozy comes to town on December 6 and by the Russians (Medvedev arrives in Delhi on December 21).
Britain’s Cameron has already been here in late July, when he won a contract for BAE Systems to supply 57 Hawk Jet trainers (40 to the IAF and 17 to the Navy) for a cool $775 million. British defence secretary Liam Fox is also expected to be in Delhi soon.
With India’s military budget currently at $32 billion and estimated to grow to $100 billion over the next 10 years, small wonder that Europe and America’s slow economies are all making a beeline for India.
Indian officials, meanwhile, also admit that a mature defence relationship with the US can only come to pass if both militaries enjoy significant trust with each other. Apart from the fact that US and Pakistani air forces have worked for decades together and enjoy “a certain seamless integration between man and machine,” India must also sign several agreements like the Logistics Supply Agreement (LSA), the Communication Interoperability and Security Memorandum Agreement (Cismoa) and the Basic Exchange and Cooperation Agreement for Geo-Spatial Cooperation (Beca).
Some officials in the Ministry of Defence (MoD) are horrified at the idea of India and US sharing sensitive information on technologies and allowing US equipment on the ground that maps sensitive terrain, but others say they are not unduly concerned.
“LSA allows each of our navies to help each other in terms of logistics and supply, whether fuel or flour, while Cismoa and Beca have been debated for years and need not be considered intrusive,” one official said.
So far, though, there is no official word from MoD on a signature on any of these agreements.