How America Replaced Russia As India's Largest Arms Supplier

“In July 2006, 15 years after the Soviet Union collapsed and five years after Islamic terrorists became America’s principal enemy, Mr. Bush decisively reversed course. Raising India to the status of a strategic ally, he cut a unique exception in the global non-proliferation regime, proposing that India be allowed to keep its military stockpile even as it gained access to technologies and fuel for its civilian reactors. Over the next two years Mr. Bush used dwindling political capital to get the deal approved by the Congress and foreign governments. When Pakistan requested a similar pact, it was told that such deals were reserved for “responsible” states…”

“Just a few years ago our armed forces were barely talking. They were skeptical about the utility of increased cooperation and, frankly, mutually suspicious. That is not the case today.
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Our defense industrial systems are now cooperating on the co-production of new technology that will be used by our respective armed forces.

We are looking to make significant contributions to India’s strategic capabilities, such as the anti-surface warfare capabilities of the Indian Navy’s submarine fleet.

I am pleased to report that India engages in more bilateral exercises with the United States than it does with any other country….”

‘Yes, India and the US have become closer militarily and strategically than they have ever been before.

If India is to take its place at the world’s top table, it has to have the requisite economic and military muscle. Instead of reinventing the wheel, we need access to the latest military technologies which currently only the United States possesses.

While building up India as a regional counterweight to China might be one of the reasons for American bonhomie, it is not the only one. Commercial interests play a major role here.

It is important to remember the old cliché that in international relations, there are no permanent friends, only permanent interests. “