India not yet ready to sign defence pacts

NEW DELHI: US defence ware manufacturers may be looking forward to the visit of President Barack Obama to seal billion dollar deals, but New Delhi is yet not ready to sign pacts that are necessary for sales to go through.

The long-pending Logistics Support Agreement (LSA), Communication and Information Security Memorandum of Agreement (CISMOA), Basic Exchange and Cooperation Agreement for geo-spatial cooperation (Beca) are crucial for the execution of defence deals between the two countries. It may be recalled that Lockheed Martin and Boeing are participating in the world’s single-largest $12-billion defence deal for supplying 126 fighter jets, F-16 and F-18, to the Indian Air Force.

Although the two sides have been negotiating on these agreements for the past three years, New Delhi is worried that these pacts could have adverse impact on its other allies like Russia. While the LSA would allow Indian and American forces, aircraft and ships to obtain logistics from each others’ bases, CISMOA would enable transfer of high technology.

“These (proposed pacts) are something brand new for us. We are not used to dealing with such agreements. We have to see whether this is a feasible route,” national security advisor Shivshankar Menon told reporters on Saturday evening.
The issue has been figuring in all high level interactions. US defence secretary Robert Gates has been repeatedly seeking conclusion of talks on this agreement. The issue had figured prominently in defence minister AK Antony’s talks with his hosts in Washington early this month.