Ambitious US-India plans face hurdles

WASHINGTON — The United States unveiled agreements this past week to sell weapons to India and share with it sensitive military technology, a clear sign of the desire of President Joe Biden's administration to deepen ties with New Delhi.

But those major plans, announced on Thursday during a state visit by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and future military cooperation face significant challenges from the US government's own weapons export rules, analysts said.

Washington says sweeping agreements on semiconductors, critical minerals, technology, space and defense cooperation and sales will ring in a new era in relations.

They include what one official called a "trailblazing" deal to allow General Electric to produce jet engines in India to power Indian military aircraft and a plan for India to procure US-made MQ-9B SeaGuardian drones.

Standing in the way are strict US rules governing export of military technology, including International Traffic in Arms Regulations, or ITAR.

These make military cooperation hard even with longtime US allies Britain and Australia in an AUKUS deal signed earlier this year to supply the latter with nuclear-powered submarines.

One congressional aide said efforts to speed up technology-sharing with India would face "an uphill battle" both in the US Congress and at the US State Department, where officials have a specific obligation to protect US technology.

"There are concerns about (technology-sharing) in the Australia context and there would be more concerns in the India context," he said. "Australia is an ally. India wants the same privileges that allies get without having any of the same obligations or responsibilities."

The source noted that India wanted access to sensitive technologies that many of the closest US allies do not have, even while sticking to its stance of maintaining close relations with Russia.

Bill Greenwalt, a former senior Pentagon official for industrial policy, said approvals for the jet engine deal and for the military drones should be relatively straightforward, although it appeared GE was still in the process of getting export authorization, which would come with State Department-mandated restrictions.

Complicating factors

"Complicating factors include to what degree congressional review and approval thresholds kick in. I expect that likely will happen for the SeaGuardians," Greenwalt said, adding that the US Missile Technology Control Regime was an added likely complication.

And there is another factor: How willingly India will accept the restrictions that may come along with any technology it receives from the US.

Greenwalt said the conditions ITAR attaches to the use of technology and the limits it imposes on India could mean New Delhi "quickly grows tired of being dictated to by the US State Department".

A state dinner, held on Thursday in a large, elaborately erected tent on the White House South Lawn, featured a number of Silicon Valley executives on the guest list, including Apple's Tim Cook, 23andMe CEO Anne Wojcicki, Google CEO Sundar Pichai, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, among others.

"I have long believed that the relationship between the US and India will be one of the most defining relationships of the 21st century," Biden said.

Modi said the visit brought a "new direction and new energy" to the partnership with the US.

Later, addressing both chambers of Congress, Indian-American supporters broke protocol to chant Modi's name during the speech but at least six lawmakers from Biden's Democratic Party boycotted the talk, pointing to concerns on India's human rights.

AGENCIES VIA XINHUA