India plans to spend an estimated $100 billion on defence over the next decade to modernise its Soviet-era arsenal and is pushing the Obama administration to ease the acquisition of US weapons and technology, a private TV channel reported quoting a US Newspaper.
The country that spawned the Gandhian principles of non-violence now has a shopping list that includes 126 fighter jets, 155mm howitzers, long-range maritime reconnaissance aircraft, vast cargo planes used in long-distance conflicts, high-tech helicopters and deep-water submarines.
Boeing is vying with Lockheed-along with French, Russian and Swedish companies and a European consortium-for a fighter jet deal worth about $10 billion.
India's expanding military ambitions, and the US role in selling this nuclear-armed nation more firepower, is starting to worry Pakistan, the report said.
India also has ongoing border disputes with another Asian giant, China, which defeated it in a short 1962 war. "This increase in India's military spending is seen with great concern in Pakistan," said Hasan-Askari Rizvi, a leading defence analyst.
"With its growing military footprint, India is steering away from traditional ally Russia, its main weapons supplier, and looking toward the United States to help upgrade its weapons systems and troop gear," the newspaper reported.
About 70 percent of India's military equipment comes from Russia, said Sitanshu Kar, a spokesman for the Indian Defence Ministry. But some Indian military officials have complained about the quality and cost of Russian equipment and have advocated a shift to US suppliers.
"We've had a long-standing relationship with Russia. But that's changing now," Kar said. India is holding flight tests for the fighter jets. Lockheed and Boeing have conducted demonstration flights for Indian celebrities and defence experts. Irrespective of who wins the deal, New Delhi is requiring that at least 50 percent of the contract value be farmed out to Indian companies for goods, labour and material.
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