US looks to speed arms exports, build ties

By Andrea Shalal-Esa

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Bush administration, looking to
build stronger military ties to India and other countries,
wants to speed up arms export procedures and better share
information, U.S. officials said on Monday.

“To improve security cooperation more broadly, the
department is taking steps to improve its ability to be a good
partner,” Deputy Defense Secretary Gordon England told a
Defense Security Cooperation Agency conference. “The U.S.
cannot predict with any certainty when and where we will need
friends.”

England said the Bush administration was working on several
legislative proposals, including one giving the Pentagon
permanent authority to pay for logistics support in combined
military operations with other countries, a power it has had on
a temporary basis in Iraq and Afghanistan.

In addition, he said the administration was trying to speed
up the approval process for export licenses, which now
typically stands at around 21 days.

U.S. direct foreign military sales are seen rising to $12.9
billion in fiscal 2006 which ends in September, up from $10.6
billion last year, according to industry experts.

John Hillen, assistant secretary of state for
political-military affairs, said sharing technology and
information was particularly vital as Washington sought to
build stronger military ties to India.

“You cannot underestimate the strategic importance of what
the president was trying to do in India. It shifts the
geopolitical plates of the world in the most fundamental way
since Nixon went to China,” Hillen told the conference.

He said a “business as usual” approach could cost U.S.
firms like Lockheed Martin Corp. and Boeing Co. the chance to
sell new fighter jets to India, and could undermine efforts to
forge closer U.S.-Indian military ties.

The United States and India earlier this month agreed to a
landmark civilian nuclear cooperation pact, which will give New
Delhi access to American atomic technology and fuel to meet its
soaring energy needs — provided Congress gives its approval.

It also opened to door to more arms deals with India, which
has the world’s second largest standing army, but has largely
bought its weapons from Russia until now.

“We have to get this right with India,” said one U.S.
defense official, who asked not to be named.

A defense industry executive, who also asked not to be
named, underscored strong U.S. corporate interests in expanding
trade with New Delhi, saying he had visited India three times
in the past 90 days and would soon return.

Current U.S. regulations and slow handling of export
requests often prevented U.S. companies from bidding for
billions of dollars of Indian defense contracts, he said.

“If we don’t do something to improve it, we will be cut out
of that market,” the executive said, calling the opening of the
Indian defense market an “absolutely tremendous” opportunity.

England also said the Pentagon and State Department, which
together oversee U.S. exports of sensitive technology, were
trying to fix a complicated system often characterized by
“byzantine” bureaucracies.

Australian Ambassador Dennis Richardson welcomed the
remarks by Hillen and England, but said there was still work to
be done on better sharing of information between close allies,
and approval of export licenses remained “frustratingly slow.”

“You have to work hard at being an ally,” he told the
conference. “That’s not always easy.”