DISARMAMENT: Indian Military Geared to Brave U.S. Sanctions

By Thalif Deen Reprint | | Print |

Thalif Deen

UNITED NATIONS, May 13 1998 (IPS) - The U.S. decision to impose sanctions on India – the world’s newest nuclear power – is expected to have only a minimal impact on the country’s 1.3 million-strong armed forces.

“The United States does not sell any major military equipment to India,” Luke Warren of the Washington based Council for a Livable World Education Fund told IPS.

Warren said that since India’s weapons purchases from the U.S. have been confined mostly to small arms, radar systems, computers and spare parts, any military sanctions on New Delhi would have little or no significance on the country’s security apparatus.

“The sanctions will not have as great an impact on India as it did on Pakistan because the Pakistanis were one of the major buyers of U.S. equipment,” he said.

Earlier the United States said it was “deeply disturbed” by India’s decision to conduct three underground nuclear weapons tests despite a global mortorium against such testing.

U.S. National Security Adviser Sandy Berger said one of the options under consideration was the imposition of sanctions on India under the 1994 Nuclear Proliferation Prevention Act. And on Tuesday U.S. President Bill Clinton said Washington plans to “fully” impose sanctions spelled out in the Act.

The Act penalises any country transferring nuclear technology, receiving nuclear explosive devices or detonating a nuclear weapon. “It would be hard to avoid the possibility of sanctions,” a State Department official said. “There is no wiggle room in the law.”

Warren said, however, that sanctions would eliminate the existing U.S. International Military Education and Training (IMET) programme under which India received 208,000 dollars in the fscal year of 1995, 357,000 dollars in 1996 and an estimated 400,000 dollars for 1997.

“The Pentagon loves IMET,” Warren said, “because it gives them personal contact with the military.” The training programme also establishes strong military ties with countries that receive IMET funds, he said.

The quantum of military grants that India receives is relatively big in terms of IMET funding. The largest single amount – about 577,000 dollars – went to Indonesia. But most countries receive an average of about 100,000 dollars annually.

Until now, India also was entitled to receive surplus U.S. military equipment, either cost-free or at discounted prices, under the Excess Defense Articles (EDA) legislation. In October 1995, India took delivery of four secondhand McDonnell Douglas TAV- 8B jet trainers at a bargain basement price of 1.9 million dollars. But EDA is also expected to be eliminated under the proposed sanctions.

At present India relies heavily on Russia for most of its major weapons systems. Between 1993 and 1995, India purchased about 880 million in arms worldwide, according to the Washington-based Arms Control and Disarmament Agency. Of this, about 675 million in arms came from Russia and only about 100 million dollars from the United States.

The frontline fighter planes in the Indian air force are virtually all Russian made, the only exception being 40 French- supplied Mirage 2000s. The air force, one of the largest in Asia, has an inventory of more than 5,000 aircraft, including fighters, trainers, transports and interceptors.

In November 1996 India made one of its biggest arms purchases when it contracted to buy 40 Sukhoi Su-30 fighter planes from Russia at a cost of more than 1.4 billion dollars. The arms package included a fleet of aerial refuelling tankers, air-to-air missiles and radar equipment.

India is also armed with more than 60 MiG-29 Fulcrums, the most sophisticated Russian fighter plane currently in service. The Indian navy is equipped with Russian submarines and Israeli-made fast attack patrol boats.

On the other hand India’s arms purchases from Washington have been minimal even though U.S. defence contractors have been pursuing new sales particularly after the end of the Cold War. India hardly made any purchases under the government-to-government U.S. Foreign Military Sales agreements. The only departure from zero purchases was a token 15,000 dollars in military purchases in fiscal 1995, according to the State Department.

India, however, did buy about 83 million dollars in arms through U.S. commercial sources in fiscal 1994, declining to 3.1 million dollars the following year and 1.2 million dollars in fiscal 1996.

Perhaps more devastating to India could be the proposed economic sanctions. Under existing anti-nuclear law, Washington could cut off all development aid to India, bar U.S. banks from providing loans and stop exports of U.S. products to India.

The United States also can oppose any fresh loans from the World Bank where Washington wields considerable influence and voting power. India, which is the largest single borrower, has to date received about 40 billion dollars in loans from the World Bank.

At the United Nations, India is considered a “developing nation”, although its international reserves have shot up from 1.5 billion dollars in 1990 to 26 billion dollars in 1997.

The sanctions come at a time when the traditionally lethargic Indian economy is suddenly taking off. India’s economic growth rose from 5.0 percent in 1993 to 6.0 percent in 1996, and is expected to average more than 6.0 percent annually through the turn of the century.