US delinks missile programmes, opens tech tap for India

In the midst of a feverish presidential campaign in the US, New Delhi and Washington are quietly raising their recently announced space and ...

In the midst of a feverish presidential campaign in the US, New Delhi and Washington are quietly raising their recently announced space and missile technology partnership to a new level, by separating India8217;s military and civilian space programmes to create an easier flow of technology.

In a few days, under the ambit of Phase I of the rather unwieldy project called Next Steps in Strategic Partnership NSSP, the US will delink India8217;s Agni and Prithvi military space programmes so as to create additional options in the transfer of technology to civilian programmes such as the SLV-3 satellite launch vehicle, the Augmented Satellite Launch Vehicle ASLV, Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle PSLV and the Geostationary Satellite Launch Vehicle GSLV.

There8217;s a quiet excitement in the air as officials here unpeel the many layers of the NSSP and discover the possibility of a political partnership that has probably never been envisaged before. As Prime Minister Manmohan Singh told an audience at the prestigious Council on Foreign Relations CFR think-tank here yesterday, 8216;8216;We are on the same side.8217;8217;

The CFR speech, at which Richard Gere was also present, outlines a radical vision of an Indo-US partnership despite the troubles over Iraq. Four years after former PM Vajpayee described India and the US as 8216;8216;natural allies8217;8217; and the subsequent major ally status to Pakistan, Singh spoke of a 8216;8216;mutuality of interests and a complementarity of major objectives8217;8217;.

8216;8216;This is a sound basis for a durable partnership8230; the building of a stable, secure, prosperous and equitable world order8230; We are on the same side,8217;8217; he added.

During this visit, the PM has often emphasised the importance of the NSSP, describing it as the key link in the Indo-US strategic partnership. In fact, National Security Advisor J N Dixit met his US counterpart Condoleezza Rice after the Manmohan Singh-Bush meeting here last week, to work out the elements of Phase 2 of the project that will be launched in mid-October. Naturally, Phase 2 takes forward the gradual process of lifting sanctions and smoothening the flow of sensitive, 8216;8216;dual-use8217;8217; technology. If sanctions against ISRO and enhanced cooperation in the civilian nuclear field such as exporting items to power plants in safeguarded nuclear facilities were key elements of Phase 18212;which has been put on the US gazette notification on September 228212;an NSSP Implementation Group will soon be constituted to take forward talks for Phase 2. 8216;8216;Lifting the ISRO sanctions is really the thin end of the wedge,8217;8217; sources said, pointing out that in the first six months of 2004, ISRO accounted for more than 25 per cent of the 51 million trade. The end of sanctions means that Indian companies no longer need licenses for 8216;8216;low-level items8217;8217;, which till now constitute about 25 per cent of India8217;s licensing applications and 80 per cent of about 300 ISRO applications.

Highly placed sources here explained that the NSSP, which at a conceptual level aims to integrate India into the world8217;s self-confessed security architecture, also chips away at the closed doors of the Nuclear Suppliers Group NSG. The NSG, a post-Cold War structure that prohibits any technology transfer with non-NPT signatories like India, could now be cajoled by powerful backers like the US who are pushing projects like the NSSP.

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Beyond the arcana, the project is valuable also in terms of dollars and cents. Former US ambassador to India, Tom Pickering, who is now the CEO of Boeing, has been leaning heavily on his own administration to loosen controls so that Boeing can get into joint collaborations in the space industry.

Integrated satellite launches, with components belonging to both countries, is a major possibility. Pickering has even promised cost cuts amounting to 30 per cent.