Thaindian News

Washington, July 28 (IANS) In a bid to boost defence sales to India, the US is touting the “technical and political advantages” of its Foreign Military Sales (FMS) programme of government-to-government transfer without competitive bidding.

“We have reached out to new partners and emerging markets where we see the defence trade growing,” Andrew J. Shapiro, assistant secretary in the State Department’s Bureau of Political-Military Affairs told the Defence Trade Advisory Group.

Outlining US efforts to expand US defence trade, Shapiro who was in India in spring for the first political-military talks in six years said they “sought to better familiarise the Indian government with our system and to address any concerns they may have”.

“We think the US-India defence and trade relationship would benefit from linking defence sales with broader strategic goals,” he said. “That’s why we specifically articulated the technical and political advantages that FMS offers.”

One of the major goals of the political-military talks in Delhi was to make progress in advancing the defence trade, he said noting cumulative defence sales to India have grown from virtually zero to more than $8 billion since 2008.

The Obama administration which has made it a top priority to promote US business abroad views the American defence industry as an integral part of its efforts to advance US national security and foreign policy, Shapiro said.

Fiscal 2012 ending Sep 30 is a record-breaking year for US Foreign Military Sales with such sales already surpassing $50 billion, representing at least a $20 billion increase over FY11, which itself was a record setting year at just over $30 billion, he said.

This fiscal year will be at least 70 percent greater than FY11, Shapiro said.

(Arun Kumar can be contacted at arun.kumar@ians.in)