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US looks to speed arms exports, build ties

Posted on: Monday, 27 March 2006, 16:35 CST

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."

Source: REUTERS

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