Sep 30, 2018

Press Trust of India Kolkata

The Indian Navy currently has only two minesweepers at its disposal to safeguard sea lanes and ports spread across thousands of kilometres of coastlines in the eastern and western seaboards, a top Navy officer has said.

The Indian Navy currently has only two minesweeper ships at its disposal to safeguard sea lanes and ports spread across thousands of kilometres of coastlines in the eastern and western seaboards, a top Navy officer has said.

The Navy requires 12 minesweeper ships, but at present has only two, rear admiral Rajaram Swaminathan, assistant chief of material, Indian Navy, said.

“The Navy needs these ships urgently,” Swaminathan said.

Minesweepers are small naval warships that detect and destroy underwater mines and are considered vital for keeping the critical sea lanes safe for movement of essential cargo, including crude oil.

Speaking on the sidelines of the launch of a fuel barge for the Navy on Friday, he said that Defence PSU Goa Shipyard Ltd (GSL) is in the process of collaborating with a foreign firm for manufacturing minesweepers.

The government has been looking for a foreign collaborator for its over Rs 32,000 crore project, entrusted to GSL, for procuring 12 minesweeper ships.

The basic function of these ships would be to locate, classify, sweep and neutralise all types of ground moored and drift mines.

A parliamentary standing committee on defence last year had slammed the government for delay in procurement of the minesweepers and asked it to make efforts to fill the gap in the Navy’s capability.

There are at least 12 major ports and several other minor or intermediate ports in the eastern and western seaboards.

Courtesy: HT

India successfully conducted an interceptor missile test off the Odisha coast Sunday night, achieving a major milestone in developing a two-layer Ballistic Missile Defence system, defence sources said.

The interceptor was launched from Abdul Kalam Island, earlier known as Wheeler Island of the Integrated Test Range (ITR), at about 8.05 pm, the sources said.

This Prithvi Defence Vehicle (PDV) mission is for engaging the targets in the exo-atmosphere region at an altitude above 50 km of the earth’s atmosphere, a Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) scientist said.

“Both the PDV interceptor and the target missile were successfully engaged,” DRDO sources said.

In an automated operation, radar-based detection and tracking system detected and tracked the enemy’s ballistic missile.

The computer network with the help of data received from radars predicted the trajectory of the incoming ballistic missile. The PDV that was kept fully ready took off once the computer system gave the command for lift-off.

The interceptor guided by high-accuracy Inertial Navigation System (INS) supported by a Redundant Micro Navigation System moved towards the estimated point of the interception, the sources said.

Once the missile crossed the atmosphere, the Heat Shield ejected and the IR Seeker dome opened to look at the target location as designated by the mission computer.

With the help of Inertial Guidance and IR Seeker the missile moved for interception.

All events were monitored in real-time by the Telemetry/Range Stations, at various other locations.

Interceptor was successfully test fired last from the same base on February 11, 2017.

Courtesy: ET

• Abhilash Tomy was sailing as part of the iconic Golden Globe Race

• He sailed out of the Les Sables d’Olonne, France, on a Goa-built yacht Thuriya on July 1

• His vessel momentarily capsizedand his mast snapped in the remote waters of the Southern

When Indian Navy sailor Abhilash Tomy sailed out of the Les Sables d’Olonne, France, on a Goa-built yacht on July 1, he knew he was taking a risk. As the first Indian to single-handedly sail around the world without a stop in a tiny vessel, Tomy was well-versed with the ocean’s unforgiving nature. But for Tomy, his love for the ocean blue was despite its treacherous nature. While sailing as part of the iconic Golden Globe Race, a 14m-high wave rolled over and left him severely injured. His vessel, Thuriya, momentarily capsized and his mast snapped in the storm in the remote waters of the Southern Indian Ocean.

“The windwane autopilot is destroyed,” said Aquarius fiberglass shipyard managing director Ratnakar Dandekar. “I presume he has hull integrity because he has not reported any water entry. It is worrisome. We have to just hang on till someone reaches him.

” The Thuriya was built at Dandekar’s Divar-based shipyard.

Given the danger and the precarious weather conditions, race organisers are working closely with the Australian Rescue Coordination Center in Canberra. Australian authorities have issued an alert to all ships, said the race’s media co-ordinator, Barry Pickthall.

The Indian Navy has also joined in the rescue effort and has diverted the stealth frigate INS Satapura, which had been forward deployed to the Southern Indian Ocean, to help locate and rescue the commander.

The storm witnessed wind speeds of 70 knots (130kmph) and rough sea conditions of 45 feet.

According to his on-shore support team, race officials received a code red alert from Tomy on September 21 at 5:39pm that his mast had broken off and that he had a “severe back injury and was unable to move”. The joint rescue centre at Australia has alerted nearby vessels to head towards Tomy and help in locating the stricken vessel.

According to race officials, Tomy remains incapacitated on his bunk inside the boat and is using the portable Yellow Brick YB3 texting unit to maintain contact with race officials. The primary satellite phone is damaged. There is a second sat phone and the second YB3 texting unit, but he cannot reach them.

“He is safe in the vessel,” commander Dilip Dhonde, the first Indian to complete a solo circumnavigation, said. “It will take a few days for rescue vessels to reach him.”

According to Indian Navy officials, Tomy had switched on his emergency position-indicating radio beacon to help rescuers locate him.

The 39-year-old is a recipient of the Kirti Chakra and is the only invitee from Asia to participate in the prestigious race that commenced from France.

The Thuriya was in the third position after he sailed over 10,500 nautical miles in the last 84 days as part of the gruelling 30,000-mile solo circumnavigation race.

Courtesy TOI

(Former Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief of the South Western Air Command, Indian Air Force)

September 13, 2018

Last week, three French Air Force Rafale jet fighters landed at the Air Force Station in Gwalior with a view to conducting joint operations with their IAF counterparts. The French contingent was in transit after having participated in the multi-nation combat exercise named Pitch Black held in Australia in which IAF Sukhois had also participated. On this occasion, the French Embassy lauded the depth of the Indo-French strategic partnership and the trust that prevails in the relations between the respective armed forces.

Neither the French Embassy nor their contingent in Gwalior would have been unaware of the political slugfest that has embroiled the name of the Rafale fighter and silently wondered whether their hosts actually understood the vital strategic potential of the proposed Rafale weapon system in the shadow of a nuclear threat environment.

The French would not have been the only ones to be so confused. We also had the first 2+2 dialogue being held between the Indian Foreign and Defence Ministers and their respective US counterparts where the future direction of the evolving strategic partnership would be under discussion. At that session, it would be the US government teams, conscious of the Rafale controversy, who would wonder whether some of the past procurements through government-to-government programmes with the US like the C17 heavy-lift transport aircraft, C 130 Hercules, P 81 Maritime Reccee aircraft, Chinook heavy-lift helicopters and others, along with their offset obligations, could fall prey to a similar controversy, thus harming their reputation.

Clearly, the ominous cloud of daily political recrimination must have cast a deep shadow not only over the skies of Gwalior, but across IAF crew rooms and messes, deeply undermining the confidence and morale of the force. This would perhaps explain why the IAF leadership was compelled to take the unprecedented step of making public statements, indirectly jumping into what is essentially a political fray. The VCAS or Vice Chief of the Air Staff responsible for operations, when questioned, termed the Rafale a ‘very capable aircraft that will give India unprecedented advantage over its adversaries, a capability that was needed very quickly’.

The DCAS or Deputy Chief of Air Staff, who as head of Plans and Procurement would have intimately been involved in the entire process, went a step further and countering allegations of any wrongdoing said “What is being alleged does not match with facts at all.” On the question of higher costs, he clarified, “I can tell you that the Rafale that we have gone for is substantially lower than the price that was on the table in 2008.” And finally, on allegations that the offset contract had been awarded to certain private players, he said, “The facts on record indicate that there is no truth in those allegations.”

It needs recalling that similar sentiments were expressed by the Chief of the Air Staff late last year and repeated in Adampur in July. Clearly, the IAF leadership appears concerned that this public slugfest is having an adverse impact not just on the morale of the force, but their confidence in the professional integrity of its leadership as well.

Unknown to those who hold forth daily in TV studios and the media and more importantly, their minders, what should have been a giant strategic step forward in the modernising and strengthening of Indian air power is turning out to be unsettling and self-defeating. If combat pilots across our northern and western frontiers are chuckling, we have only our politics to blame.

As if to remind the nation of the dire straits that the IAF finds itself in, flying obsolete platforms amidst a declining combat force level, the IAF has these last three months lost two MiG-27s, one MiG-21 and one Jaguar aircraft with the sad loss of two lives. A cruel reminder of the shape of things to come. Unmindful, the sterile debate rages on, demonstrating that political one-upmanship means far more to our democracy than the operational capability and safety of our armed forces.

Ironically, even as the government is being accused of favouring a private offset partner, Tata Advanced Systems and Lockheed Martin Corp have announced an agreement whereby TASL will manufacture in Hyderabad wings for all future Lockheed F-16 customers. This should have been a matter of jubilation for our Make-in-India efforts. Instead, since Lockheed are also amongst the potential bidders for a new IAF tender, they have been defensive and declared that this agreement is not contingent on the success or otherwise of that bid! Clearly, international weapon system suppliers are mindful of having not only to compete in the technical and commercial domains, but in a political minefield as well!

The price issue is a red herring and cost comparisons to be meaningful must be based on the total system cost on a like-to-like basis. This would need a detailed cost benefit analysis by a body of specialists, who would still be left guessing about weighing operational value, not readily quantifiable monetarily. One example is the commitment to providing product support for five years, ensuring 85% fleet availability in the IAF’s operating conditions. None, including HAL, have ever committed to such an in-service operational fleet availability.

In an unprecedented low, a petition has recently been filed in the Supreme Court by over 300 serving army officers, JCOs and NCOs on issues relating to their duties in disturbed areas and the dilution of AFSPA. Close on its heels, we are now witness to another low point where the highest IAF leaderships have been compelled to wade into a political controversy in order to shield their force from its corrosive and negative consequences. The world is witness to nations where their militaries have undermined democracies. Indian democracy seems determined to be experimenting with the reverse. Time for the nation to pause and reflect.

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed within this article are the personal opinions of the author. The facts and opinions appearing in the article do not reflect the views of NDTV and NDTV does not assume any responsibility or liability for the same. The DCAS or Deputy Chief of Air Staff, who as head of Plans and Procurement would have intimately been involved in the entire process, went a step further and countering allegations of any wrongdoing said “What is being alleged does not match with facts at all.” On the question of higher costs, he clarified, “I can tell you that the Rafale that we have gone for is substantially lower than the price that was on the table in 2008.”And finally, on allegations that the offset contract had been awarded to certain private players, he said, “The facts on record indicate that there is no truth in those allegations.”

Air Marshal Brijesh D. Jayal (retired) is former Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief of the South Western Air Command, Indian Air Force.

Courtesy: NDTV

Editors Note: This article is reproduced as published in NDTV website. The opinions expressed are the author’s own and IDC does not necessarily subscribe to them

The recent recommendation of the armed forces cadre review committee that every army officer should retire at the rank of Major-General or above has put our governance structure in the dock.

The Committee, which has also recommended the abolition of a couple of middle-level military ranks, makes no bones that these radical proposals emanate from a desire of army officers to attain parity with their civilian counterparts.

Given the fact that the rank structure in the Army is as old as the Army itself and is essential for maintaining discipline, serious thought should be given to put in place measures that would address the feeling of deprivation and hurt in the armed forces.

Till Independence, as suited a colonial administration, the military and bureaucracy worked in close coordination. Friction started building up soon after Independence when the doctrine of civilian control over the military was given full play by the nascent Indian Government.

The Commander-in-Chief of the Indian Army, who, till Independence, ranked just after the Governor-General was put down by several notches, but there was no serious conflict as the Army and civilians had their separate spheres of influence.

However, conflicts soon developed even amongst the various components of the civilian bureaucracy because of our transition from a predominantly agrarian society to a highly complex modern construct.

New challenges had emerged, old sources of Government finance like land revenue had given way to income-tax and central excise, the need for generalist administrators had declined and domain experts were in demand.

Not surprisingly, services like Income-tax and Customs became important and started demanding parity with the IAS. Eventually, the Government partially acceded to their demands, other services also got a taste of the fish and loaves of office but with one rider; whatever any other service got, the IAS got more.

A bonanza of promotions ensued for the top men in the civilian bureaucracy; bombastic nomenclature was often invented for mundane jobs. Thus, departments have new apex grade posts like Principal Chief Commissioners and Principal Chief Controllers who are oerforming the same functions as their less ostentatiously named predecessors.

The IAS, of course, raced far ahead. An IAS officer could aspire to be a Divisional Commissioner in sixteen years. Senior posts proliferated for the IAS and IPS; instead of eight or nine Divisional Commissioners thirty years ago, UP now has around thirty of them. Similarly, as against one Inspector-General of Police, most large States now have ten posts of Director-General of Police.

Combined with the Government’s inability or unwillingness to fill vacant lower-level posts, the civilian bureaucracy is on the verge of becoming an inverted pyramid. An insane quest for promotions has resulted in adding levels to the bureaucratic hierarchy, with a deleterious effect on governance. Simply put, there are too many persons to give directions but very few to obey.

Conceding the Army’s demand for changing the rank structure may have unforeseen effects on army discipline because the world over military ranks are conferred depending on the number of troops commanded; armies of many small nations are often led by officers of the rank of Major-General or Lieutenant-General.

A better way to satisfy the Army’s demand for equivalence could be to resolve the anomalies in the civilian bureaucracy which would also improve the quality of governance.

The first step towards addressing the government structure would be to abolish the Warrant of Precedence which decides the inter-se seniority of all Government functionaries.

A colonial relic, the Warrant begins with a disclaimer: “(The Warrant) is only used to indicate ceremonial protocol and has no legal standing. It is not applicable for the day-to-day functioning of the Government of India.”

But, the Warrant of Precedence is the root cause of most of the inter-services rivalries and causes much friction and heartburn in the day-to-day functioning of the Government.

TN Seshan, as Chief Election Commissioner, went to the Supreme Court to improve his ranking in the Warrant of Precedence. There are recorded instances where the Governor of a State refused to talk to the Departmental Secretary because the Governor felt that he should be addressed by the Minister. Often, important senior-level posts remain vacant because people in other services have not been promoted to an equivalent level.

In the interest of good administration, seniority should be defined only within departments and all departments and organisations should be treated as equal. The working of various departments could be coordinated by coordinating bodies at the district, state and national levels.

Then, we can have a running scale common to all services with employees moving on to the next post when the vacancy arises, subject to suitability. These simple steps could take care of much of the heartburn and friction caused by the present system.

Thereafter, the structure and organisation of civilian bureaucracy should be reviewed for optimal functional efficiency doing away with unnecessary layers of officialdom.

A sufficient number of lower-level functionaries have to be recruited so that important functions of governance are not perfunctorily performed by contractual employees.

Another pressing need is to redefine the scope of duties of all employees in all departments, considering the fact that computerisation has radically altered the way Government business is conducted.

In principle, the goal of the bureaucratic system is to contribute to the welfare of society but in what could be an apt description of most modern bureaucracies, the nineteenth century French novelist, Honore de Balzac, wrote: “Bureaucracy is a giant mechanism operated by pygmies.”

As a country, our aim should be to have a system where each member of the bureaucracy rises above his pygmy-hood and realises his full potential, benefiting both himself and society at large.

The bureaucracy has often been accused of status-quoism, non-performance and much worse but the inherent contradictions in its organisation have not been addressed so far.

The recent move to induct domain experts at Joint Secretary level is a recognition of two facts ~ domain experts are required for governance and domain experts do not rise to senior levels under the present system. The opposition of the entrenched bureaucracy to this move only shows that the bureaucracy wants to preserve its turf even at the cost of good governance.

With the contagion of opportunism poised to infect the armed forces, the time has come for a complete reorganisation of the civil services. One only hopes that at the end of the re-organisation exercise, Government functionaries will realise that public service, not self-glorification, is the aim of their job.

The writer is a retired Principal Chief Commissioner of Income-Tax.

Courtesy: Statesman

AMARAVATI: The Indian Air Force (IAF) has come up with major plans for Andhra Pradesh to make it a ‘strategic base’ and strengthen its presence in the region in view of the growing strategic importance of the east coast.

Prime among them are IAF’s plans to set up a major helicopter training facility at Donakonda in Prakasam district.

The other plans put forth before the AP government are establishing a drone manufacturing facility in Anantapur district, a cyber security centre in Amaravati and making Rajahmundry and Vijayawada airports asset positioning bases, top bureaucratic sources said.

“In view of the growing strategic importance of the east coast and China moving fast, the IAF intends to strengthen its presence in the region. Setting up asset positioning bases in AP is part of the strategy,” the bureaucrat privy to the deliberations said on condition of anonymity.

IAF currently has a base at Arakkonam near Chennai, while the Navy has INS Dega in Visakhapatnam.

“On our part, we have constituted a task team to coordinate with the IAF on these projects. A preliminary ground survey has also been done to identify suitable locations and we have asked the IAF to submit detailed project reports,” a top bureaucrat involved in the process told PTI.

The IAF, as part of its strategy to strengthen vigil along the east coast, has proposed the use of existing civilian airports at Rajahmundry and Vijayawada for positioning its assets – fighter and other aircraft.

Also, IAF helicopters and other aircraft that could be used for rescue and relief operations in case of natural calamities would be positioned at these bases.

The IAF top brass has already held at least three rounds of talks with chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu and discussed the projects.

Last week, IAF Southern Command Chief Air Marshal B Suresh and his team held talks with the chief minister and came up with a fresh proposal to develop Air Force Enclaves at different locations in the state.

The state government initially offered 2,700 acres of land at Donakonda, along the abandoned World War-II airstrip, for the proposed helicopter training facility.

Subsequently, the IAF told the state government that it required less extent of land and, accordingly 1200 acres has been identified for the project.

“About 300 acre of this parcel of land will be given to Airports Authority of India for civilian aircraft operations and the rest to the IAF for the helicopter training facility,” a senior bureaucrat in the revenue department said.

The IAF intends to set up the drone manufacturing facility in Anantapur district since it is close to the Yelahanka Air Base near Bengaluru. The project cost and other details are being worked out.

Meanwhile, the IAF has sought land at Suryalanka in Guntur district to expand the existing Air Force Station. It has also sought allotment of land in Nellore and Bhogapuram (where an international civilian airport is proposed) for the Air Force Enclaves.

The chief minister directed infrastructure and investments principal secretary Ajay Jain to coordinate with the IAF on this.

Courtesy: TOI

The Indian Air Force chief’s statement that the induction of the Dassault Rafale will give the fleet teeth is heartening, but is not a great revelation. Any fourth or fifth generation fighter like the Swedish Viggens,the American F16s or the Russian Sukhois, for example, would provide the much-delayed dental upgrade. Nobody makes bad fighter planes in what is a highly competitive category.

More importantly, Air Chief Marshal Birender Singh Dhanoa’s observation is mutually exclusive from the inordinate delay in getting the first 36 aircraft and also the dust that has been raised by the Opposition parties. Therefore, any effort to link the air chief’s clean chit to sanitising the purchase of scandal is pointless.

Any military expert will confirm that if a four-star officer was to say the choice is a poor one, that would make news. Putting an in-house seal of approval after a three-year foot drag is not really a newsworthy initiative unless it comes as a diktat to quieten the uncomfortable questioning that intensified in August with Congress president Rahul Gandhi challenging Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in an unseemly and undergraduate fashion to respond to the accusations of malfeasance in the purchase. As a deflection, it’s a fragile effort because one would jolly well hope the government and the air force chose correctly.

The unfolding of this saga is also reminiscent of the Bofors episode where its unquestionable worthiness as a shoot-and-scoot Howitzer was eclipsed by scandal and slander and an international manhunt that got nowhere.

The risk is that the product and politics get so deeply intertwined that it all turns into a ball of wool. If it wasn’t for Kargil and the tilt in our favour thanks to the Bofors gun, it would have been maligned as a dummy — which was exactly what was happening until the conflict.

We are way past the time for endorsements for the Rafale. The need of the hour is to appreciate that there is more than one enemy at the gate and our air force is relatively toothless. To address the issue, India must move to either lease jets from France till the supplies begin to arrive or find short term alternatives, because the luxury of leaving the gate unattended till 2019 and beyond is an indulgence that cannot be afforded.

Courtesy:First Post

Editors Note: The comments are the author’s own opinion and IDC does not necessarily subscribe to them.

Observing that the combined air combat strength of China and Pakistan cannot be matched by India even if it were to add 200 fighter jets to its current fleet, India’s Air Force chief has expressed hope that the addition of Rafale fighter aircraft and S-400 air defense systems would help plug the gap to a large extent.

New Delhi (Sputnik) — In a startling admission, Indian Air Force (IAF) Chief BS Dhanoa has revealed that India cannot match the combined air combat strength of China and Pakistan even if it were to add around 200 fighter jets to its fleet, while warning that India is currently facing grave threats from its adversaries.

“What we do not have are the numbers, against a sanctioned strength of 42 squadrons, we are down to 31. Even when we do have 42 squadrons, we will be below the combined numbers of two of our regional adversaries. We have to match neighbors Pakistan and China to tackle a two-front war,” Air Chief Marshal BS Dhanoa said while speaking at an event in New Delhi.

Each squadron of the Indian Air Force consists of 18 fighter jets. Pakistan has 20 squadrons “that can be brought to bear against us” while China has approximately 1,700 fighter aircraft, 800 of them fourth generation, Air Chief Marshal Dhanoa added.

The IAF chief further elaborated on the threat from the northern adversary observing that China has enhanced its combat strength in the Tibetan region in recent years.

“Chinese fighter aircraft have been permanently stationed in the Tibetan Autonomous Region (TAR) in the past few years. Advanced radar and surface-to-air missiles have also been stationed in the region,” Dhanoa added.

However, he was of the opinion that Rafale fighter jets and the S-400 Triumf air defense system would help bolster the combat capabilities of the country.

“By providing the Rafale and S-400, the Government is strengthening the IAF to counter the depleting force numbers,” Dhanoa stated.

India and Russia are expected to seal the contract in the first week of October for the S-400 purchase, as all negotiations including money transfer issues between the two countries have been settled.

Prior to signing the deal during the upcoming visit of Russian President Vladimir Putin to New Delhi, India’s Minister of External Affairs Sushma Swaraj will visit Moscow on September 13-14 to hold a meeting of the 23rd India-Russia Inter-Governmental Commission on Technical and Economic Cooperation (IRIGC-TEC), co-chaired by her and Yuri Borisov, deputy prime minister of the Russian Federation.

Courtesy: Sputnik News

September 06, 2018

When a US warship or aircraft detects a Chinese warship or submarine, the warships, submarines and aircraft of the Indian Navy operating in the region will get to know instantly about the presence of the Chinese vessels through the transmission of encrypted data shared by the US Navy.

Not only will the Indian Navy get the exact bearing and speed of the Chinese vessels, they may also be able to receive a live video feed of the ‘target’ as well.

The receivers fitted in Indian Navy assets will be a part of America’s Combined Enterprise Regional Information Exchange System or CENTRIXS for short, a system described by the US Navy as a “collection of classified coalition networks” that support combatant commands throughout the world. CENTRIXS is a backbone of secure tactical communication between America’s closest military allies, of which India is one.

And the reason New Delhi will now have access to CENTRIXS is because of its decision to sign the Communications Compatibility and Security Agreement (COMCASA), a “foundational agreement” that has the potential of transforming the way in which the intelligence and armed forces of the US and India work together.

In simple terms, this is the next step up for the armed forces of both countries, well beyond the annual set of joint exercises they have been holding for years. From a military technology standpoint, CENTRIXS is one of the systems that enable India and the United States to fight together as military allies in a combat zone since both sides would have access to a common operational picture, a single identical display which shows the position of enemy targets, friendly forces and other critical information which greatly enhances the situational awareness of military commanders.

Indian Navy’s fleet of cutting-edge P-8I anti submarine aircraft are already serviced by engineers and specialists from Boeing.

And that’s not all that signing COMCASA brings with it.

The armed Sea Guardian drones the Navy is likely to acquire will be fitted with some of the most sophisticated American military hardware — the Global Positioning Systems and Identification Friend or Foe (IFF) receivers on board will be anti-spoof and invulnerable to attempts to electronically jam or manipulate their signals. Data transmitted by the Very High Frequency (VHF) emitters will be strongly encrypted and the security-key for the encryption systems will be entirely in Indian hands.

Despite the tangible military gains, signing COMCASA has been deeply problematic for the Indian security establishment and talks between New Delhi and Washington have gone on for years. At the heart of New Delhi’s concerns is the worry that the secure data transmission systems on board US-provided drones may have a channel which allows the US to monitor their precise movement. At the same time, there have been concerns that annual US inspections of these systems, as mandated by COMCASA, infringes on India’s rights as a sovereign nation.

Belatedly, however, both sides have been able to address these concerns amicably. The Indian armed forces have accepted an American explanation that the United States cannot track the real-time movement of drones and aircraft they have provided unless India allows that to happen. The US has made it clear that ground inspections of these systems are required not to snoop on India but only to ensure that some of Washington’s most sophisticated military systems have not been tampered with, reverse engineered or shared with any third country.

In fact, the Indian Navy’s fleet of cutting-edge P-8 anti-submarine aircraft are already serviced by engineers and specialists from Boeing. Some of the most sensitive communication systems on board, however, were replaced by off-the-shelf systems since India had not signed COMCASA when the P-8s began entering service in December 2012. The Navy operates 8 P-8s with four more on order.

Once they enter service, the Predator Sea Guardian manufactured by General Atomics will transform the Indian Navy’s ability to monitor large parts of the Indian Ocean. Capable of flying non-stop for 27 hours at an altitude of 50,000 feet, the Sea Guardian is remotely piloted or can operate fully autonomous missions. Equipped with a multi-mode maritime radar, the drone can engage targets such as enemy ships by firing either Hellfire missiles or smart bombs mounted on its wings.

India’s decision to sign COMCASA comes at a time when the United States has voiced its opposition to India’s acquisition of the Russian S-400 missile shield since this purchase violates CAATSA or the US Countering America’s Adversaries through Sanctions Act, which has recently been passed.

However, New Delhi, while indicating its intention to go forward with COMCASA, has made it clear to Washington that Russia and India have had a historic military equation which cannot be dispensed with.

Courtesy: NDTV

6 September 2018

NEW DELHI (Reuters) – India and the United States signed an accord on secure military communications that both sides hailed as a breakthrough on Thursday, possibly opening the way for sales of sensitive U.S. military equipment to India.

The pact was signed after U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo met Indian Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj and Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman for talks aimed at deepening political and security ties.

The world’s two largest democracies have drawn closer in recent years, seeking ways to counter-balance China’s spreading influence across Asia, notably in Pakistan, Southeast Asia and the Indian Ocean.

Before coming to India, Pompeo held talks in Islamabad with Pakistan’s new government and generals, aiming to smooth over tensions after President Donald Trump took a tough new line towards Pakistan over longstanding accusations it is not doing enough to root out Afghan Taliban fighters on its territory.

The presence of U.S. troops in Afghanistan has heightened U.S. sensitivity to the rivalry between nuclear-armed India and Pakistan. Washington and New Delhi share concerns over Pakistan-based anti-Western and anti-Indian Islamist militant groups.

The Communications Compatibility and Security Agreement (COMCASA) that was signed on Thursday had been stalled for years because of India’s concerns that it would open up its communications network to the U.S. military.

Pompeo said the accord was a “major step” forward that officials have previously said would allow the U.S. to transfer high-tech equipment such as armed surveillance drones. New Delhi has been seeking the drones to monitor the Indian Ocean where China, a close ally of Pakistan, has been making repeated forays in recent years.

India and the United States also agreed to open a hotline between their foreign heads and hold joint exercises involving the air force, navy and the army off the eastern Indian coast in 2019, the Indian government said.

“The momentum in our defence partnership has imbued a tremendous positive energy that has elevated India-U.S. relations to unprecedented heights,” Sitharaman said.

A senior U.S. defence official said the United States had only signed similar pacts with fewer than 30 other countries.

“It not only allows us to be more interoperable with India, but it allows India to be more interoperable across its own systems…most significantly, it opens up a range of defense technologies to India,” Joseph Felter, deputy assistant secretary of defense for South and Southeast Asia, told a small group of reporters.

Felter said that by signing the agreement some Indian weapon systems would see an immediate increase in capabilities, including the C-130 and C-17 aircraft.

The United States has emerged as India’s second largest arms supplier, closing $15 billion worth of deals in the past decade.

Experts believe the signing of the COMCASA agreement could also reduce the chances of the United States imposing sanctions on India for looking to buy Russian S-400 surface-to-air missile systems.

The United States has imposed sweeping sanctions on Russia, under which any country engaged with its defence and intelligence sectors could face secondary U.S. sanctions.

However, a new defence bill proposes giving the U.S. president authority to grant waivers when national security interests are at stake.

Felter said the issue of a potential S-400 purchase by India did not come up during talks. Later, Pompeo told reporters the United States was not seeking to punish India for its proposed purchase.

The United States is also pushing countries to halt oil imports from Iran after Trump withdrew from a 2015 deal between Iran and six world powers that was intended to stall Tehran’s developing nuclear capabilities.

India is Iran’s top oil buyer after China, and it is seeking a waiver from the United States.

Ahead of the talks in New Delhi, a senior U.S. State Department official said the United States was engaged in “very detailed conversations” with India over Washington’s request to completely stop India’s oil imports from Iran.

“We’re asking all of our partners, not just India, to reduce to zero oil imports from Iran and so I’m confident that will be part of our conversation with India,” the official told reporters accompanying Pompeo.

Courtesy: Reuters