India on Wednesday congratulated Barack Obama for
winning a second term in the White House hoping the economic and defence
ties between the two countries will be furthered.
Obama
has been instrumental in pushing through defence deals worth $10
billion with India in his first term creating thousands of jobs back
home. Many of the defence deals with the US are still in offing.
Prime
Minister Manmohan Singh also congratulated Obama – with whom he shares a
special equation -for his re-election. “I have no doubt that there is
much more we can do together to further strengthen the India-U.S.
partnership and thereby advance peace and stability, expand mutual
economic opportunities, harness the potential of science and technology,
innovation and higher education and empower our people to address
global challenges,” Singh said in his congratulatory message.
Obama
has also been pushing for better relations with India as was evident
during his four day presidential tour – the longest overseas visit by
him as President. Obama, who broke the racial ceiling for being the
first Black elected President in the White House, also expressed his
solidarity with India in countering terrorism.
As
per keen watchers of the defence industry, there will be “renewed
thrust” from Obama on signing of more defence deals with India to help
the economic crises back home. The total defence trade between the two
countries in last 10 years has been $ 10 billion and in 2011 only India
has purchased military equipments worth more than $4.5 billion from the
US. The big ticket deals signed with the US in the last five years been
eight P-8I maritime surveillance and anti-submarine warfare aircraft
from Boeing valuing $ 2.1 billion. India is also buying 10 C-17
heavy-lifters from Boeing for $4.1 billion. The six C-130 J special
operations aircraft valuing $ 1.2 billion have already arrived in the
country and order for six more is in the offing. India is also planning
to place an order for M777 ultra light howitzers for $ 700 million to
augment its firepower in the mountainous terrain.
The US firms have also emerged as the chosen one for supplying the attack helicopters and the heavy lift helicopters for the Indian Air Force.
In
a gesture to reciprocate, the US also eased its US Export Controls and
Technology security policies towards India and removed premier Defence
Research and Development Organisation and Indian Space Research
Organisation (ISRO) from the Commerce Department Entity List.
The
US earlier this year unveiled a new military strategy for Asia-Pacific
under the leadership of Obama giving a more pivotal role to India to
counter the rise of China. The US has been all out trying to woo India
by stepping up bilateral defence trade and cooperation. The US also
underlined its commitment towards the modernization of the Indian Army.
With
the US set to pull out its troops from strife-torn Afghanistan by 2014
end, it has been urging India to play a greater role in stabilizing the
country. So far India’s involvement in Afghanistan has been limited to
economic and soft skills development. The US is keen on New Delhi’s help
in training Afghanistan police and Army.
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