US ALLAYS INDIA'S DEFENSE FEARS
Siddharth Srivastava
Asia Times, March 24, 2009
NEW DELHI - Though it's uncertain how US President Barack Obama will impact the Indian outsourcing business, there is one legacy of the erstwhile George W Bush administration that looks set to continue - defense.
Last week, the Obama administration approved a US$2.1 billion sale to India of eight Boeing Co P-8I maritime patrol aircraft, the biggest US sale to the country to date.
The long-range maritime reconnaissance aircraft for the Indian navy will replace eight aging and fuel-guzzling Russian-origin Tupolev-142Ms. (The P-8I was derived from the commercial Boeing 737 airframe.)
The US State Department said in a statement that it cleared the direct commercial sale having factored in "political, military, economic, human-rights and arms control considerations".
It said direct arms-trade "offsets" were expected to include engineering services, manufacturing and integrated logistics-support projects of over $641 million.
Doubts in certain quarters that the Obama administration may review the strategic depth of India-US relations, an important component of which is defense, have been put to rest.
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