U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates is on a sales mission to India. Apart from the big-ticket military hardware the U.S. hopes to sell its close friend and ally as part of the secretary's two-day visit, Western defense contractors are keen to develop India as a long-term customer and hope to wean the country from its long-term weapons supplier, Russia.
Gates' Feb. 26-27 trip comes less than two weeks after the four-day Defense Expo 2008 which concluded in New Delhi on Feb 19. Hawking their wares there were almost all the big, global weapons players: Raytheon, Boeing, Sweden's Saab, France's Dassault, Britain's BAE Systems, Northrop Grumman, and many arms dealers from Israel. Gates' visit also occurs close to India's Mar. 3 internal deadline to consider bids worth $10.2 billion for 125 new fighter jets.
Gates met with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee and opposition leaders like L.K. Advani, head of the Bharatiya Janata party; at these meetings he was expected to push America's case as an ideal partner for India, given the Asian nation's defense requirements. At a brief press conference in New Delhi Gates stated that he wanted to "expand the significantly improved relations between the U.S. and India." The second day of the visit is expected to bring a slew of new defense deals.
Gates' trip comes in sharp contrast to the last Pentagon visit to India in November, 2006. Then, Under-Secretary of Defense Frank Lavin arrived with a 250-member delegation representing 175 U.S. companies to negotiate hookups with Indian companies to build nuclear reactors
No comments:
Post a Comment