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India rising global military power: US think-tank

WASHINGTON — India has emerged as a regional military power and is inching towards becoming a global one, a US military think-tank has said.

The paper “India’s Strategic Defence Transformation: Expanding Global Relationship” by Brian Hedrick of Strategic Studies Institute (SSI) of US Army Department of Defence, was released on Thursday, takes a global view of India’s rise as a regional and future global military power.

“India’s defence establishment is undergoing an unprecedented transformation as it modernises its military, seeks strategic partnerships with the United States and other nations, and expands its influence in the Indian Ocean and beyond,” writes Douglas Lovelace, Director SSI.

“This transformation includes a shift from an emphasis on the former Soviet Union as the primary supplier of defence articles to a western base of supply and an increasing emphasis on bilateral exercises and training with many of the global powers,” he said.

Military Advisor to the Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia at the State Department, Hedrick, who has served earlier in the US missions in India and Bangladesh, said that India’s interests have changed over the past decade or more, taking it from a path of nonalignment and non-commitment to having specific strategic interests on a path of “poly-alignment”.

“Since 2000, India has increased the number of countries with which it has defence-specific agreements from seven to 26 by the end of 2008.

Bilateral and multilateral exercises are also an increasing feature of India’s expanding defence relations as it seeks to find new technologies to transform its military from Cold War era weapons to 21st century capabilities through such opportunities. Through this new policy, one of the goals of New Delhi is to become a regional power across the Indian Ocean basin and secure agreements from partners in this region that support this goal, while building up expeditionary capabilities in its navy and air force, it says.

“At the same time, it continues to modernize its army to deal with potential threats from its immediate neighbours and internal insurgency groups, and to fulfil its goal of being a global leader in UN peacekeeping,” the paper says.

India is also developing “strategic partnerships” with countries perceived as leaders of a global, multipolar order and seeking modern military capabilities from many of those countries. This includes modern weapon systems as well as the technology and licensed production associated with those weapon systems, it said.

New Delhi wants to secure or maintain ties with smaller countries globally, many of which are members of the NAM, that can provide support in international fora as well as provide potential markets for its own emerging defence industry, said Hedrick, a graduate of the Indian Defense Services Staff College and the US Army Command and General Staff College.

Hedrick said many of the recent changes in India’s global defence relationships represent a vast departure from past policy and practices.

A New York Times reports corroborates the report. “In recent years, while world attention has focused on China’s military, India has begun to refashion itself as an armed power with global reach: a power willing and able to dispatch troops thousands of kilometers from the subcontinent to protect its oil shipments and trade routes, to defend its large expatriate population in the Middle East and to shoulder international peacekeeping duties,” the report says.

“India sees itself in a different light – not looking so much inward and looking at Pakistan, but globally,” said William Cohen, a secretary of defense in the Clinton administration and now a lobbyist for U.S. firms seeking weapons contracts in India.

The report says there is new opportunity for tens of billions of US dollars in defence-related sales to India.

“Because many of the US defence technologies have important applications in domestic counter terrorism, these sales also expand opportunities well beyond the two defence establishments into law enforcement and border control issues,” it said.

However, the report cautioned that as an extension of its NAM policy, India will continue to view its relationship with the United States through the lens of multilateralism, preference for a multipolar global power structure, and the impact on its bilateral relations with other countries.

“India will continue to forge new defence relationships around the world, increasingly with a view to exporting defence material from its own developing industry.

However, it will likely begin to shift its energy towards deepening many of the relationships it has established to date,” it said.

Also India will increasingly assert itself as a regional power in the Indian Ocean.

“Occasionally India’s interests may diverge with US (such as Indian support to Mauritius’ claim to Diego Garcia105), creating potential irritants in the relationship,” it said.

Further, India will likely emphasise balance in its defence relations, especially with the larger powers of the United States, Russia, the EU, UK, and Israel. This balance will often be reflected in defence procurement decisions, as these are enduring symbols of the bilateral relationship.

“Most bilateral and multilateral military exercises will not be affected with considerations of balance, with the exception of larger, more visible exercises,” it said.

- AGENCIES