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U.S. plays Patriot against Israel's Arrow

by Aziz Haniffa
in India Abroad pg. A4
March 11, 2005

The recent massive campaign by the Pentagon and U.S. defense establishment to provide India the Patriot antimissile system and other sophisticated weaponry has been touted as a manifestation of the Next Steps in Strategic Partnership.

Beneath the surface, the move is symptomatic of the U.S. defense establishment worrying it will lose out to Israel as preferred supplier.

Senior Indian defense officials acknowledged the growing defense relationship between India and Israel has been a catalyst in U.S. defense manufacturers, with support from the Pentagon, aggressively targeting the Indian market and attempting to push Israel out of the reckoning.

Israel recently supplied sophisticated radar systems to India. It is no secret New Delhi has for long displayed interest in acquiring the Arrow antimissile system from Tel Aviv. For years the U.S. has prohibited Israel from selling the Arrow to India, arguing it helped Israel develop the system and that its transfer/sale to a third country was prohibited under the terms of agreement providing the U.S. assistance and components.

Defense officials and analysts believe the U.S. argument is a ploy to place obstacles in the path of Israel muscling in on the Indian defense market, which is growing, and where the U.S. hopes to build a monopoly.

A senior Indian official told India Abroad a few years ago, when Indian expressed an interest in the Patriot antimissile system, U.S. officials "told us, forget it. We provide the system only to our closest allies."

At that time the U.S. told India there was no possibility India would be provided with a briefing on the systems, let along be able to purchase the system. Today the official said, "not only are we being provided with classified briefings of this PAC-2 Patriot system, but it's possible if we push hard enough we could get the (more sophisticated) PAC-3 system."

Last month, a Pentagon team headed by Edward Ross of the U.S. Defense Security Cooperation Agency made technical presentations before defense and external affairs ministry officials in New Delhi on the Patriot Advanced Capability antiballistic missile system (India Abroad, March 4).

"The Israeli factor and our interest in acquiring the Arrow system has a role, although it fits in well with the NSSP," the official noted.

"Our interest in the Patriot was taken seriously by the U.S. only after we began negotiations with Israel for the Arrow," he said. Senior Bush administration officials sought to play down the Israeli factor, saying, "it is much more a reflection of the fact that our (US-India) relationship has gotten to the point where we can start talking about these kinds of systems."

"It's not just on our side," the officials told India Abroad, "it's on the Indian side too where the Indians can give serious consideration to it."

The officials pointed out that as there were residual Cold War warriors in administration circles who were opposed to selling such systems to India, there were entrenched bureaucrats on the Indian side who are opposed to letting the U.S. become one of India's major defense suppliers. "But there are more and more Indians who see the advantages," the official pointed out. Referring to the Arrow, the officials argued that the U.S. had assisted Israel in the development of the Arrow and that gives us a say in whether they are transferable or not."

Despite much lobbying by the pro-Israeli and pro-India lobby, including several members of the Congressional Caucus on India and Indian Americans, Washington has told Tel Aviv that if it struck a deal to sell the Arrow to India, it could jeopardize the Israeli-US joint defense equipment development cooperation.

The officials downplayed the efficacy of the system. "The Arrow is designed to intercept an incoming missile much farther away than the Patriot is," officials pointed out. "The Arrow has to be a lot bigger. In fact, the Arrow missile is so big that it probably comes under the Missile Control Technology Regime limitations as far as its capabilities."

Recently, a defense delegation led by former Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs and former Ambassador to India Tom Pickering, who is with Boeing, and retired four-star general Joseph Ralston, erstwhile chairmen of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and now with the Cohen Group headed by former Defense Secretary William Cohen, visited India for the Aero India 2005.

Shortly before their visit, the two were given an hour-long briefing by Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and General Richard Myers, chairmen of the Joint Chiefs of Staff -- a proceeding that underlines the unprecedented support the Pentagon gives U.S. arms manufacturers attempting to penetrate the Indian market.

Rumsfeld and Myers told the delegation to aggressively 'enhance and improve our relationship and partnership with India in the defense sector.'

Rumsfeld emphasized the 'importance of such delegations as it is sending the signal that the U.S. government would like to send, that we are keenly interested in establishing a deeper and stronger partnership with India.'

Ron Somers, president of the US-India Business Council, under whose auspices the defense delegation comprising heavy weights like Raytheon (manufacturer of the Patriot) and Lockheed (multi-role advanced F-16 fighter aircraft) visited India for the Aero India show, told India Abroad, "the fact that we got the top people to brief us and not some second-tier and third-tier briefers, shows they wanted to send a signal to India that the U.S. government is keenly interested in deepening and strengthening the relationship and is willing to provide India with the kinds of systems that have traditionally been given only to our closest allies.

"In India," Somers said, "we had every meeting you would hope for. The delegation was absolutely delighted with the outcome.

"The message that I would like to convey -- to take away from the mission itself -- is we are committed to doing more business with India and we want to establish longterm relationships, we will be reliable suppliers and, if there is any doubt about that, try us out -- take a test-drive and you will be rewarded with the fact that we are the most reliable suppliers on the planet." Somers said the U.S. was offering the best technologies known to man. "More importantly, we are not looking for a one-shot deal, we are not looking for a one-shot transaction.

"We are looking for a long-term partnership, as all of the systems are long-term relationships involving training, services, and maintenance over the long term -- upgrades and so forth," he said.

Somers discounted the contention that U.S. defense manufacturers were pursuing the Indian market aggressively as they fear that otherwise, the U.S. would, by default, lose out to Israel.

"We see it as a long term courtship," Somers said. "It's beginning. The U.S. and India need to warm up the relationship. They need to build confidence and trust. We need to get past the issue about reliable suppliers. We would like the opportunity on the U.S. side to demonstrate we will be reliable suppliers in the long run. We need to commit a transaction as the systems, once put on Indian soil as long term service contracts, long term maintenance, long term training relationships, which will take us toward an alliance."

Somers said competition from Israel does not bother the U.S. defense industry as "the U.S. private sector has never been afraid of competition. We are offering India the best technology available on earth. India's military deserves the best technology."