The absence of certain military agreements with the U.S. does not affect the operational capability of the armed forces, Chief of the Staff of Indian Air Force Air Chief Marshal P.V. Naik said here on Friday.
The U.S. has been pushing for the signing of three military agreements on the grounds that these would be “technology enablers.” Despite persistent U.S. emphasis, including during the two meetings this year between the Defence Ministers, India has stayed away from inking the agreements. U.S. Defence Secretary Robert Gates, during his visit earlier this year, had left non-papers explaining the advantage of the three military pacts with the Prime Minister's Office as well.
When asked by the government, the armed forces had said the absence of these pacts “will not make any substantial difference to our operational capabilities,” said the IAF chief at an industry-sponsored seminar.
India has or is in the process of buying several U.S.-origin defence platforms including heavy lift and super heavy lift military transport planes, long range maritime reconnaissance aircraft and light Howitzers. Pentagon has suggested that at least two of the agreements — the Communications and the Information Security Memorandum of Agreement (CISMOA) and Basic Exchange and Cooperation Agreement for Geospatial Cooperation (BECA) — would make some military platforms technically more potent.
Some reports have even suggested that the U.S. could remove some of the latest military equipment in the absence of these agreements. The Pentagon argues that the signing of the third military agreement — the Logistics Support Agreement — would ease accounting and bookkeeping hassles during frequent joint exercises between the two sides.
Twin threats
Speaking at another seminar by a military backed think tank, Chief of the Army Staff General V.K. Singh said the country should be ready with substantial conventional war capability to tackle the “two irritants” to India's security — China and Pakistan.
Drawing a distinction between the two “threats,” Gen. Singh said Pakistan was a worry because of its problems in internal governance and the backing by the state to organisations committed to violence. India needed to keep a wary eye on China because it was rising “both economically and militarily.”
“Although we have a very stable border, yet we have a border dispute. And, therefore, the intentions need to be looked at along with this additional capability that is coming out,” he said. At the same time, he ruled out a full-scale conventional war with China and felt any possibility of hostility would be limited to skirmishes. To meet these challenges, “we must have substantial conventional war-fighting capabilities with the ability to fight in a nuclear scenario,” felt Gen. Singh.
