DTN News: Is The US Dictating India’s Defence Deals?

DTN News: Is The US Dictating India’s Defence Deals? * Questions being raised since Antony cancelled $1.6bn airbus deal agreed with EADS

*Source: Daily Times By Iftikhar Gilani (NSI News Source Info) NEW DELHI, India - February 21, 2010: Is the Indian government under pressure from the United States to cancel its defence deals with European companies and purchase defence equipment from American firms? The question is being raised after Defence Minister AK Antony recently struck down a $1.6 billion order bagged by the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company (EADS) for supplying the Airbus transport planes to the Indian Air Force (IAF).

This is yet another order that has been “legitimately won” by a European defence company last year, with the IAF selecting the multi-role tanker-transport Airbus A330 after negotiating with companies for four year. But the deal was arbitrarily cancelled by Antony without giving any reason. Last year, India concluded a deal with Eurocopter – a French-German conglomeration –for buying 197 helicopters, which was also cancelled by Antony.

The Defence Ministry gave a very “shadowy” financial argument to explain why Boeing’s P81 Poseidon reconnaissance aircrafts were preferred over the Airbus in another deal. Another decision to award a large tender for “secure defence communication” equipment to Motorola – an American firm – instead of the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company (EADS), is also mired in “red tape and secrecy”, with the Defence Ministry failing to provide any plausible explanation for “dumping the winner” and preferring the US company instead.

The IAF officials who laboured for four years to finally pick up Airbus A330 are disturbed over the defence minister’s striking down of the contract as their efforts, energy and money had all gone to waste.

Defence analysts say there may not be a great conspiracy, but there is certainly something wrong in the way the Defence Ministry is cancelling deals with European companies despite of their winning the tenders and fulfilling the quality requirements of the Indian forces.

They pointed out that finalised transactions between sovereign nations do not “just get cancelled”. The question being raised at the moment is whether the Manmohan Singh-government is succumbing to the continued US pressure, or are there some “shadowy agents” who are influencing the government’s decisions.

Analysts say Antony cannot be blamed for cancelling the concluded deals, as he must be acting only on the advice of higher-ranked Defence Ministry officials. Analysts point out that unlike the US, the European firms had always agreed to the complete transfer of technology of the latest weaponry, and that too with no strings attached.

Hence, the denial of opportunity to them is astounding. Is it because the US helped India get into the nuclear nations’ family after over two decades of isolation that US companies are being preferred? Since the signing of the civilian nuclear deal, the US are sitting pretty on actual and potential defence orders worth $10 billion from India.

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