USA urges India to buy American weapons

[lovuian]

http://english.pravda.ru/main/18/88/354/15665_India.html

India may stop buying Russian military aircraft and air defense systems altogether

Russian defense industry has suffered another blow in India as the Russian President Putin was solemnly declaring friendship to his Indian counterpart. According to Mr. Putin, "Russia-India relations are developing today in the best possible way." However, the situation is not so optimistic with regard to prospects for Russian arms sales to India.

India may stop buying Russian military aircraft and air defense systems altogether. Meanwhile, the United States is making unprecedented concessions in the field of military and technical cooperation while imposing its friendship on India. USA is offering India to launch joint production of the outdated F-16 fighters in India. The offer is ostensibly made "in token of friendship." Americans are also hinting at a potential sale of its much-vaunted Patriot air defense system to India.

India is now holding a tender for the order of 126 multi-purpose lightweight fighters for the national air force. There are 4 bidders at the moment including Russian Aircraft Concern MiG for the MiG-29M/M2; Lockheed Martin for the F-16; SAAB for the fighter Gripen; and DASSAULT for the fighter Mirage 2000. In accordance with the tender terms, a winner should launch licensed production of its aircraft in India. The Russians believed that their greater flexibility with regard to licensed aircraft production would be an advantage at the tender. Representatives of Rosoboronexport indicated earlier that neither American nor Swedish manufacturers had any experience regarding cooperation with the Indian side in the area of aircraft assembly. However, the above circumstances did not prevent the Americans from taking a step toward the potential customers. Needless to say, the Indian-assembled F-16 would be a lot cheaper than its equivalent put together in the U.S. or Europe. There is still an excess of qualified labor supply in India, and labor costs are low. The Indian air force is likely to spend as much on domestic assembly of U.S. fighters as it would spend on licensed production of Russian aircraft. The Americans made an unprecedented decision, no doubts about it. So far just a handful of countries has been given such a "privilege" despite the possibility for partial joint production of the fighter stipulated in the original provisions of the F-16 development program. The F-16 is currently manufactured outside the U.S. by Belgium, Denmark, Norway, Netherlands, and South Korea.

For the first time in history the U.S is making such an offer to a country that is neither a NATO member state nor it has Americans troops deployed on its territory. What are the reasons behind this spectacular move? Aside from economic motivations, it is obviously a matter of geopolitics.

First, the U.S is beginning to gradually force out Russian, Ukrainian, and Chinese arms suppliers out of the region by offering India its state-of-the-art weapons at a reasonable price. Ukraine and China sell arms mostly to Pakistan, a longstanding rival of India's. The Americans are dealing successfully with Pakistan too. The Pakistanis always showed consistency in their simple stance on the issue of U.S. arms sales to India. They always objected to such deals while asking for more U.S. arms for themselves. It is unlikely that the U.S. will fail to cut a similar deal for the F-16 with Pakistan, terms of a contract will probably copy those of the Indian deal i.e. joint production of the fighter in a buyer's country. In any case, the issue has been already discussed during the talks between the U.S. and Pakistan
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Nothing like outsourcing our jobs and now giving our military technology!!! those US Millitary companies like Carlyle are making zillions!!!

[Oversea Visitor]

1. No profit in peace

Damn how dare Russia and China dare to profit from all they hard work to create a market..... :rofl:

[Johnywolf]

2. lol

[mcctatas]

3. I'm sure Pakistan will be thrilled...

what if India get's all of those shiny new weapons and decides they can't go on without Kashmir (sp)? Who says you can't trust Bush's America to be a true ally.

[SupplySideLiberal]

4. Sorry to read this

I could understand arming our allies (like Pakistan) during the cold war. What is to be gained now by being the merchants of death for the whole world? There must be better ways to get closer to India.

[cliss]

5. The US is nothing more than a $25.00 prostitute,

standing on the street corner....looking for men. She's pretty old....just can't pick up the John's like she used to....now she's lucky if she can pick up a few tricks for 25 bucks. Even then, she'll go down to $15.00 on a slow night.

Just a few months ago, the US gave some very expensive fighters to Pakistan. Note: these were given, not sold. Pervez Musharraf was very happy. He traveled to Washington for the express purpose of getting his MiG fighters, and to have a few billion dollars (I think it was $4) forgiven. He got what he came for.

India was aghast at this development. They protested loudly over the deal. They felt it was creating instability in the region by giving Pak a huge nuclear advantage. The US said nothing.

Now, Uncle Same shows up with his sales pitch, ready to sell more to the other side.

There are not words to express my contempt right now.

[LynnTheDem]

6. Spreading democracy via PROLIFERATION. Remember this when

India is called "evildoers" by the US govt. It'll happen. Sooner or later.

[ngGale]

7. Wasn't selling illegal and legal arms how we got ourselves...

into this mess to begin with. Guess we will have an excuse to go back and start another war at some point. Nothing like planning for the future.:think:

How do you know this country has arms, Sir. Because we have the bill!