Hagel’s visit to enhance bilateral defence trade
US Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel's primary goal during his three-day India trip has been to get better acquainted with the Modi regime and help the Obama Administration understand the contours and nuances of the new Government in Delhi. Generally speaking, the BJP-led NDA Government marks a clear break from the past decade of Congress-led UPA rule; however, in the case of foreign policy, which has traditionally been characterised by continuance and bipartisan support, it is unclear how exactly the Modi Government will chart its course. To further complicate matters, the India-US relationship, described not so long ago as the defining partnership of the 21st century, has lost much of its natural spirit. Upon the large bureaucracies in Delhi and DC, highfalutin phrases like ‘shared democratic values and goals' now hang heavy, even as old suspicions and misgivings from an era gone by, occasionally crawl back. A strong political push from both ends is needed to revive the bilateral, and the Modi-Obama meeting, scheduled for September, is a great first step towards that end. Hence, the long line of top American officials who have travelled to India in recent months, hoping to get the dynamics of the India-US relations just right.
Mr Hagel's trip builds on the visit of his colleague from the State Department, Mr John Kerry, who was in Delhi only last week, accompanied by Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker. His discussions with the country's top political and military leadership are being watched especially closely because defence trade and cooperation are really the only bright spots in the India-US bilateral at the moment. The US is hungrily eyeing the vast Indian defence market, which is poised to open up to greater foreign investment — after the Union Cabinet raised the ceiling for foreign holding in defence firms from 26 per cent to 49 per cent. India is one of the world's top arms buyers, and even though Russia gets the lion's share of business from this country, others like Israel and France have been moving in fast. America too has several big ticket deals in the pipeline — negotiations for the purchase of 15 Chinook heavylift and 22 Apache helicopters, worth $2.5 billion, have progressed significantly, although discussions on the procurement of the 145 M-777 ultra-light howitzers do not seem to be promising. These are some of the specific projects that Secretary Hagel has been discussing, apart from the Javelin infra-red-guided anti-tank missiles which India and the US hope to “co-produce and co-develop”. If the latter works out, it will be a huge plus for India which has sought to avoid off-the-shelf purchases, preferring technology transfers and domestic production, so as to boost the indigenous defence production industry. Also, on the agenda is the renewal of the 10-year India-US defence framework agreement which has enhanced importance given the deteriorating security situation both to India's east and west.