Asia Times: India comes out fighting from military isolation



	February 17, 1999	atimes.com

India-Pakistan

India comes out fighting from military isolation
By Rahul Bedi

NEW DELHI - India's military isolation followinglast year's nuclear tests is easing. It is holding joint navalexercises with the French Navy next month and Britain wants toresume meetings of the joint defense consultative group.

The three-day Indo-French naval exercises off India's westcoast in the Arabian sea - India's first with a United Nations SecurityCouncil member after last May's multiple nuclear tests - willinclude the French aircraft carrier, Ferdinand Foch.

Officials in New Delhi said this was the first time a foreignaircraft carrier was participating in joint manoeuvers with theIndian Navy. They said the Indian carrier INS Viraat was also''likely'' to participate.

Meanwhile, British Defense Secretary George Robertson, who metJaswant Singh, India's foreign minister and chief nuclearnegotiator in London recently, said Britain wanted to resumemeetings of the Indo-British joint defense consultative grouphalted abruptly after the nuclear tests.

The group, that includes senior defenseofficials from both countries, last met in 1997. Visitsto Britain by India's naval and army chiefs were cancelledfollowing the nuclear tests.

But military cooperation between India and France is fastexpanding following Defense Minister George Fernandes's visit toParis last month. During the visit the two sides agreed the Indo-French Committee of Cooperation for Military Affairs would meetin New Delhi later this year to ''impart greater dynamism tobilateral defence co-operation."

''France has been very supportive of India's position in thenuclear field and their understanding of our concern has beenexpressed more than once,'' said Fernandes. He said closerdefense cooperation with France would lead to transfer ofmilitary technology and joint ventures in India.

Official sources said India's ''gratitude'' to France forsupporting its nuclear stand would lead to extended militarypurchases from Paris. Last September, President Jacques Chiractold Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee that Francerespected India's right to conduct nuclear tests.

India's Cabinet Committee on Defense has already cleared thepurchase of 10 Mirage 2000 fighter aircraft that will replacethose lost in accidents. Official sources said France hasreportedly agreed to sell the Mirage 2000s for what it chargedthe Indian Air Force over a decade ago for around 40 Mirage2000H/Ths. French participation in the AERO India '98 air shownear Bangalore, southern India, was also significant.

India is seeking electronic components from France to upgradeits fleet of MiG 21 fighters and French involvement in theAdvanced Light Helicopter program that has suffered a setbackfollowing U.S. sanctions over the nuclear tests.

Negotiations, meanwhile, are at an advanced stage to buyaround 300 T90 tanks from Russia for an undisclosed amount. They will be deployed in offensive formations against Pakistan. Theoutright purchase of T90 tanks to equip four or five armored regimentsby mid-1999 is to counter the large number of T80s Pakistanacquired recently from Ukraine.

The Indian Army considers the missile-firing T90s superiorto Pakistan's T80s. They are capable of firing up to eight 125mm rounds per minute at land-based and low-flying targets. Itsautomated fire control system allows continuous firing while anelectronic suppression system jams the laser range finders andtarget designators of anti-tank weapon systems.

A team of military electrical and mechanical engineersrecently returned from the T90 plant in Russia following thedecision to buy them after extended trials in Ahmadnagar inwestern India and hot weather trials in the Rajasthan desert overseveral months. The possibility of locally making T90s underlicense at the Heavy Vehicles Factory at Avadi in the south, isalso under ''consideration''.

India is also buying substantial military hardware from SouthAfrica and Israel, considering them reliable suppliers. Militarysources said the government had directed the Ministry of Defenseto source defense equipment from these two countries as they areimpervious to sanctions and restrictions of the kind India hasperiodically faced from Western countries.

Early in February, India signed a deal with Israel for some 250battlefield surveillance radar systems for the artillery andhand-held radar for the infantry for around 800 million rupees(U.S.$14.28 million).

Indian military sources said the radar will be imported in completed, semi-knocked-down and completely-knocked-down form. They said the deal includes a transfer of technology with thestate-owned Bharat Electronics Ltd (BEL) in Hyderabad in thesouth selected to locally assemble the radar.

India has also entered into a defense cooperation agreementwith South Africa to exchange views on strategic matters andtrade in military equipment. The agreement, signed last year, alsoincludes an exchange of information on the Indian Ocean Rim andcooperation and training in peace-keeping activities.

India is also buying 90 mine-protected armored personnelcarriers for around U.S.$12 million for army and paramilitaryunits deployed in the disputed Kashmir state whereMuslim insurgents have been waging war for an Islamic homelandsince 1989 and in which 20,000 people have died. South Africa hasexpressed interest in acquiring Nag (meaning Snake), the locallydeveloped anti-tank missile with a range between four and six kilometers formounting on attack helicopters.

India's army chief General Ved Prakash Malik, who visited SouthAfrica last year, said India had been invited as an observer tothe multinational Blue Crane peace keeping exercise in Africalater this year.

(Inter Press Service)

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