US offers big arms contract and technology to India
On the eve of Prime Minister
Narendra Modi’s US visit, the Pentagon has offered to jointly develop or
manufacture 34 state-of-the-art weapon systems and technologies with India
including the Javelin anti-tank missile and the Scorpion mutation bomb.
The deal for the Javelin, an infra-red guided missile with a range
of nearly 5km that has been used in Afghanistan and Iraq, will include full
transfer of technology. It features software that allows the missile to seek,
track and destroy tanks. Earlier, India had been considering the purchase of
Javelins worth $4billion.
According to the South
Block officials, Bharat Dynamics Limited will be involved in the co-production
of the Javelin and will also co-develop the next generation of the missile. The
offer to build and develop the missile jointly was first made by President
Barack Obama to Modi in a letter in July.
The Americans have also
offered co-production of Textron-manufactured micro-observers or unattended
ground sensors for deployment on the border, and co-development of the
Scorpion, a bomb that has in-built sensors that allow command centres to
accurately target enemy convoys.
Another weapon that has
been offered for co-production is the 120mm canon gun made by ATK.
It is also understood that
after a long delay, India is all set to acquire 24 Apache Longbow attack
helicopters and 16 Chinook heavy lift helicopters under the foreign military
sales route that involves government-to-government sale.
Indian and US diplomatic
sources said that the Pentagon offers came during the September 22-25 meeting
in Washington between a four-member Indian team led by defence production
secretary G Mohan Kumar and US under secretary for acquisition and technologies
Frank Kendall.
Modi will renew the
10-year-old bilateral defence framework for five more years during his visit
and defence minister Arun Jaitley is expected to meet his US counterpart Chuck
Hagel on October 8 after the IMF-World Bank meetings on the previous two days.
The meeting between Jaitley and Hagel is expected to be attended by Gen Martin
Dempsey, Chairman, joint chiefs of staff committee and commerce secretary Penny
Priztker.
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