US could sell F-16s and Patriots to India

US could sell F-16s and Patriots to India

Daily Times Monitor

WASHINGTON: The United States may sell F-16 fighter aircraft and Patriot missile systems to India in a dramatic change of policy aimed at “exerting some degree of leverage” over New Delhi, Indian Express quoted a leading US think-tank as saying.

What is clear is that there is a growing consensus in Washington that the US should no longer be shy about selling India military equipment as part of a wider defence partnership that is critical to a major new geopolitical relationship, according to a report by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).

“Supplying arms to New Delhi will be a dramatic change in US policy and certainly the most notable arms sale since the US lifted its nuclear embargo on India in 2001,” CSIS, quoted an anonymous US analyst as saying. “For the United States, providing military technology and equipment will have the added benefit of allowing Washington to exert some degree of leverage over New Delhi,” it said. “By purchasing US hardware, India will be dependent on the United States for vital maintenance, support and up gradation to keep the weapons operational.”

The US may sell F-16s to both India and Pakistan and Patriot 2 to India, the report said. However, it added that an influx of advanced weapons into Islamabad, including the possible sale of F-16s to Pakistan, runs contrary to New Delhi’s “goal” of maintaining asymmetry between its military forces and Pakistan’s.

Lockheed's multi-role F-16s are competing in India against France's assault and other foreign suppliers. Whichever company gets it, it will be a multi-billion dollar contract, the report said. The sale of the Patriot, CSIS said, was essentially cleared under the groundbreaking Next Step in Strategic Partnership (NSSP) agreement reached by the two countries in 2004, which included missile Defence, with the US now allowing India to gain access to advanced military equipment.