The Pentagon has commended the newly-announced plans under the Defence Technology and Trade Initiative (DTTI) with India, saying it will not only further US’ strategic goals, but will also open up possibilities for new and competitive sources of military hardware.US Under Secretary of Defence for Acquisition, Technology and logistics Frank Kendall, who spearheaded the initiative with multiple trips to India in the run-up to President Barack Obama’s visit, told a congressional panel on Wednesday that the low-cost products would be of great help at a time of resource crunch due to the sequestration policy.
“A new initiative, improving technology search and outreach in global markets, recognises that competitive sources of both technology and products are increasingly located outside the US,” said Kendall in the course of his testimony before the House Armed Services Committee.“We have many global allies, friends, and trading partners, who share our values and can assist us in acquiring needed defence products,” he said as he referred to the Defence Technology and Trade Initiative with India.
“With our resource constraints, we cannot afford to develop unique US systems for every need. Where adequate products are available from our international partners, we should welcome and encourage broad competition,” Kendall said.Dwelling on the problems that Pentagon faces because of sequestration, the high-ranking official, said: “This is a huge problem for the department — and not just because of the uncertainty associated with the department’s ability to plan or the inadequate resources that sequestration levels will provide.”
“I am very concerned about the increasing risk of loss of US military technological superiority. We’re at risk and the situation is getting worse,” he said and made a pointed reference to China’s defence modernisation programmes which, he remarked, had “alarmed” him. China, according to him, is making advances “beyond what we have done … and it's designed to threaten largely those high-value assets”. The Pentagon, he said, was recognising this situation and “doing some things to try to address the problem”.