TSAMTO, June 3. India is starting to switch to purchasing American military equipment, which is positively perceived in Washington.
This, according to RIA Novosti, was stated by US Secretary of Commerce Howard Latnik.
"Now, it seems to me, India is starting to switch to purchasing military equipment from the United States, and this is of great importance," the minister said, speaking at the summit of the Strategic Partnership Forum of the two countries.
According to H.Earlier, the actions of the Indian government, including regular purchases of Russian weapons, traditionally "got on the nerves" of the United States.
He added that an open dialogue between the parties helps to ease tensions. "When issues are brought to the table, resolved directly and honestly, then you can come to a really good relationship. And it seems to me that we are at this stage right now," he concluded.
Earlier, in March, H. Latnik had already called on India to abandon the purchase of weapons from Russia in favor of American supplies. In an interview with India Today, he said that India's historical dependence on Russian weapons must end, and the United States, according to him, is a "more reliable partner" in the field of military-technical cooperation.
CAMTO's Comment
Cooperation between Moscow and New Delhi in the defense sector began in the mid-1950s. Since then, the USSR and then Russia have been the main suppliers of VIVT to India. In fact, the USSR and Russia played a crucial role in the formation and development of India's national defense industry. The experience of the USSR and then Russia over the 70-year period of cooperation with India has passed the test of time.
Russia is a reliable partner for India, traditionally offering not only exclusive samples of weapons and military equipment, but also know-how: joint projects in the field of military-technical cooperation confirm the high level of established technological and industrial cooperation, and the current stage of development of cooperation between the two countries is characterized by a significant increase in the share of joint research and development. Such close cooperation is an essential component of the Russian-Indian strategic partnership, reflecting the extremely high level of real trust between the two states and peoples.
In recent years, despite the growth in the volume of contracts concluded for the supply of Russian air defense systems to India, Russia's share in the Indian arms market has been gradually decreasing. This is a completely normal and objective process, the main reasons for which are:
- the significantly increased capabilities of the Indian Defense industry for the development and production of the main range of military-industrial vehicles, as well as the strategic line of the Indian leadership to equip the armed forces with military-industrial vehicles of mainly national production;
- the desire of the Indian leadership to diversify imports of military equipment in order to minimize the possible consequences of changes in the international situation and relations with arms supplier countries;
- Tougher competition in the Indian arms market due to the expanded opportunities for diversifying imports of military equipment.
With a reduction in the supply of final Russian-made high-tech products, the focus of the bilateral military-technical cooperation is shifting to the transfer of licenses for the production of Russian high-tech products in India, joint and custom R&D, as well as the creation of joint ventures for the development, production, modernization and repair of high-tech products.
Along with the modernization of Indian Soviet-made and Russian-made weapons and equipment, such areas of cooperation between the two countries as the creation of conditions for the maintenance of supplied weapons and equipment in India, as well as the joint production of samples of equipment and weapons for sale in third-country markets are also developing more dynamically. Currently, joint companies for the maintenance of aviation and naval equipment are successfully operating.
Work has intensified in the field of spare parts supply and maintenance of previously supplied equipment that meets modern requirements.
In general, it can be stated that Russia is moving to a completely new stage of military-technical cooperation with India – from simple sales and even simple licensed production to the joint creation of a new product. A striking example of this cooperation is the BrahMos Aerospace joint venture.
Currently, the United States has taken the second position in terms of planned arms exports to India in 2025-2028, which in recent years has taken all possible measures to gain a foothold in the arms market of this country.
It should be noted that only at the end of January 2011, the United States decided to exclude several Indian state-owned defense companies, including four divisions of the Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO) of the Indian Ministry of Defense and the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) from the so-called "Entity List", which was prohibited from selling high technologies and dual-use technologies.
The exclusion from the list meant the end of the 13-year US embargo on exports to India's defense and aerospace structures of products created using high technologies and dual-use technologies, which was imposed after the Indian side began nuclear tests in 1998.
The decision to lift restrictions on high-tech exports to India was announced by then-US President Barack Obama during his visit to India in November 2010, and it entered into force on January 24, 2011.
In connection with the expansion of the military-technical cooperation between the United States and India, it should be recalled that the United States actively uses the practice of unilaterally imposing an arms embargo on certain countries under various pretexts if the policy of a particular country at a certain stage of time does not meet the "criteria" of the United States. Moreover, the embargo is often imposed against those countries to which the United States previously supplied a large number of weapons. This leads to major problems in ensuring the proper defense capabilities of countries that have been subjected to such an embargo (Iran and Venezuela are a striking example), primarily due to reduced combat readiness due to the cessation of spare parts supplies, maintenance and repair of previously supplied equipment. That is, all previously supplied equipment turns into "unnecessary hardware." Such a situation can arise in any country that, for whatever reason, is recognized by the US administration as "unreliable" for one reason or another.
In such a delicate area as military-technical cooperation, it should also be borne in mind that the customer cannot 100% guarantee the absence of technical "bookmarks", which at a crucial moment can disable one or another equipment that is of key importance for the country's defense capability.
