Washington, Nov 21 (IANS): The US has taken several steps to step up defence cooperation with India as it considers New Delhi integral to Washington's ongoing Asia-Pacific rebalance thrust, said a top Pentagon official.
"From the conception of our new strategy, the United States has seen India as integral to a rebalance we're undertaking not just to the Asia-Pacific region, but also within the region," said outgoing Deputy Secretary of Defence Ashton Carter.
This was being done as the US "complemented existing partnerships in Northeast Asia with new bilateral and multilateral collaboration in Southeast Asia and elsewhere", he wrote in an op-ed article in the prestigious Foreign Policy magazine.
Carter, who along with India's National Security Advisor Shivshankar Menon, has been tasked by the two governments to give a new thrust to India-US defence policy, said the two sides had worked hard to "overcome a historical legacy of differing approaches to defence".
To step up defence cooperation with India, the US had "already proposed to our Indian counterparts several promising ideas from US industry", he said.
These include what Carter called "an unprecedented offer, exclusive to India, to co-develop a next-generation anti-tank weapon that would address a key requirement for both of our armies."
The US was adapting its export control system in order to more easily release sensitive technology to India, he said. It was also taking aggressive action to speed up responses by US bidders when the Indian government issues requests for proposals.
The US and India were also increasing their joint science and technology collaboration, Carter said.
"American researchers who seek and find Indian partners in key research areas will receive priority funding for their projects, an incentive we've previously only ever offered to the United Kingdom and Australia."
"And we're committed to increasing our engagement with industry partners in both countries so that we can identify the best ideas to meet our overlapping security needs," Carter said.
"In the long run, the United States benefits from an Indian military with all the capabilities it needs to meet its growing regional security responsibilities," he said.
"Even as we face budget turmoil and political gridlock at home, working toward this goal -- quietly, patiently, but ultimately effectively -- is what the rebalance is all about," he said.
Carter referred to a joint venture between American firm Lockheed Martin and Indian firm Tata to assemble the newest variant of America's long-standing tactical airlifter, the C-130J Super Hercules in Hyderabad as one such "sign of how far our relationship has come."
"While the deepening of US-India defence cooperation may not be as visible as some of our other efforts in the Asia-Pacific region, it is a key example of how" the US Department of Defence "is executing our role in the rebalance," he said
As someone who has watched our bilateral relationship mature over a number of years, Carter said he had "come to believe that the United States and India are increasingly natural partners on the world stage."
"Though we may not always share identical policy prescriptions, we do share a common set of values and objectives," he said. "Likewise, our interests overlap."
"From trade and investment to education, global health, energy, the environment, and defence, India and the United States share common goals on many of the world's most pressing challenges and opportunities," he said.