The message from Japan is clear that it desires a strategic partner to maintain the existing geo-strategic order. It’s time for Modi to shake-up the all-pervasive bureaucratic lethargy in the defence Ministry

Japan’s open support to India during the Doklam challenge which ended recently was a major take-away of the crisis. While China was quick to realise the import of Tokyo’s action, it is time for India to walk the talk and hold Japan in strategic embrace. The occasion to do this will be Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s visit to India in September for the annual summit meeting.

No sooner had the Japanese Ambassador to India, Kenji Hiramatsu, supported India’s case in Doklam, China condemned Tokyo’s envoy in Delhi. The reason for doing so was straightforward: Both India and Japan are major powers at the two ends of the western Pacific and Indian Ocean that China needs to tame in order to meet the United States’ challenge for supremacy in the two oceans.

While the US’s Trump Administration has yet not defined its priority between global leadership role and ‘America First’, Abe understands the need to woo India to restrict China’s geo-strategic ambitions. Beijing too realises the damage that strategic, including defence technology, bonding between India and Japan could cause to its expansionist foreign policy.

Since military power plays a big role in China’s world-view, India should re-double its efforts to acquire cutting-edge technologies from friendly nations. Japan stands out in this regard since it has promised technology on attractive terms. The case in point is the US-2 amphibious aircraft which is more than a military platform that the Indian Navy desperately needs. It has the potential to open the floodgates of defence technology trade between India and Japan. What is preventing this from happening is not Indian political disinterest but bureaucratic apathy.

For example, according to the November 11, 2016 summit, joint statement between Modi and Abe in Tokyo: “Prime Minister Modi conveyed his appreciation for Japan’s readiness to provide its state-of-the-art defence platforms such as US-2 amphibian aircraft. It symbolises the high degree of trust between the two countries and the distance that Japan and India have covered in advancing their bilateral defence exchanges.”

Defence cooperation has been assessed by both sides as the pivot for harmonising India’s Act East policy with Japan’s Free and Open Indo-Pacific strategy. Consequently, India and Japan have an annual trilateral dialogue covering defence policy, military to military relations, and cooperation between the two Coast Guards.

Moreover, under the Defence Framework Agreement, the two sides have confirmed the entry-into-force of transfer of defence equipment and technology.

The reason why Japan is more than willing to work on defence technology with India has been explained by Japanese strategic experts. According to them, India is a strong Naval power, it is trustworthy, can fill the vacuum left by the United States in the Indian Ocean region, and Japan needs India to stabilise the region (read, restrict China’s expansionist ambitions).

The moot point is whether India is equally serious about its defence ties with Japan; going by the long-delayed US-2 aircraft procurement programme, it does not seem so. This is when, according to a serving Admiral, who cannot be named, the Indian Navy has expressed a strong desire to procure this platform citing five reasons to the defence Ministry.

One, US-2 is ideal for protection of hundreds of Indian islands in the Indian Ocean. Armed with the unique Boundary layer Control technology, US-2 is the only amphibious aircraft capable of operating in Sea State-5. This means that given its short take-off length of 280 metres and landing requirement of 300 metres, US-2 is the only aircraft in the world that can operate at wave-height of up to three metres. This capability also allows this aircraft to be an ideal platform for inter-Island support with minimal infrastructure requirement and for extended operations over sea.

Two, given its eight hours endurance with three-ton payload, US-2 is ideal for operational logistics, since unlike a ship, it can assist tactical sea-battles faster.

Three, since India has purchased long-range endurance aircraft like P-8I, MiG-29K, Su-30MKI, Rafale etc, US-2 is the only platform that can provide credible long-range search and rescue capability over sea, should it become necessary.

Four, given its all-weather capability and state-of-the-art surveillance radar fit, US-2 can be employed for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance tasks.

And five, US-2 is the ideal platform for Indian Navy’s role of visit, board, search and seizure (VBSS) that can prevent 26/11 type sea-based terrorist attacks by transporting marine commandoes faster at sea.

Additionally, this aircraft can be used for furthering the national aspiration of being a regional power by providing assistance to friendly countries of the Indian Ocean Region during natural disasters. The purchase of US-2 will not only send a powerful message to China, it will also convey India’s seriousness towards its strategic ties with Japan.

Senior Naval sources told this writer that money was not the problem in this case. For instance, the US-2 procurement was listed, for the third time, for the November 7, 2016, Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) meet, which was held days before Prime Minister Modi’s summit meeting in Tokyo. Items are listed for the DAC for political clearance after they are in-principle budgeted by the respective service in the Capital Acquisition outlay. The US-2 was inserted in the consecutive three summit’s joint statement by the Ministry of External Affairs on the understanding that the Ministry of Defence would progress the case positively.

What’s more, Japan decided, in July 2016, to transfer the US-2 sale from commercial to Government-to-Government (G-to-G) category, which India accepted. Since the Japanese Government holds the US-2 Intellectual Property Rights and training capability, it was decided that to facilitate the process, the deal should be negotiated by Japan’s Acquisition, Technology, and logistics Agency (ATlA), under its defence Ministry.

According to naval sources, ATlA has offered many other concessions, namely, possible discussion on credit line for the sale; waiver of the training cost of both the aircrew and technical support staff; re-consideration of the aircraft price (each aircraft costs about USD 120 million); and have even offered a new aircraft free for the Indian Navy’s training requirements. ATlA has also proposed to build the aircraft as per India’s technical specifications. Japan has even indicated that there may be a possibility of offering a few aircraft from its own defence forces’ stock on friendly terms (virtually free).

The above offers illustrate that Japan under Abe wants to go beyond trade. It desires a strategic partner to maintain the existing geo-strategic order. It is time for Prime Minister Modi to shake-up the all-pervasive bureaucratic lethargy in the defence Ministry. This is also the message from the Doklam crisis.

(The writer is co-author of Dragon on our Doorstep: Managing China Through Military Power)