In the outpouring of deals and agreements arising from Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s first state visit to the United States, one item perhaps deserves more attention than it has got.
This is the new ‘Sustainment and Ship Repair’ arrangements between India and the US. The US Navy has already concluded a Master Ship Repair Agreement (MSRA) with Larsen and Toubro Shipyard at Kattupalli, south of Chennai, and is finalising similar agreements with Mazagon Dock Limited in Mumbai, and the Goa Shipyard. Under these agreements, US naval ships can put in for service and repairs at these shipyards.
By itself, the MRSA may not appear to be particularly significant. But it is an important building block in the emerging US-India defence industrial relationship. Actually, it should be seen also in conjunction with the negotiations the two countries are undertaking for a Security of Supply Arrangement and a Reciprocal Defence Procurement Arrangement, which will enable the supply of defence goods in the event of unanticipated supply chain disruptions.
Both probably involve the stockpiling of products in Indian facilities, as well as widening the base of producers and suppliers of defence products needed by the US to include Indian companies. Once the agreements are signed, Indian manufacturers would be able to engage with US equipment manufacturers and be qualified as suppliers and contractors for the Pentagon’s military-industrial orders. The Reciprocal Defence Procurement Arrangement provides exemptions from American laws mandating federal procurements from US companies only.
The MRSA also complements the LEMOA, the Logistics Exchange Memorandum of Agreement of 2016. LEMOA provides access to both countries to designated military facilities of either side for fuel and replenishment. An important aspect of this is the mechanism for payments and bookkeeping to facilitate the process. The LEMOA is limited to situations arising from port calls, joint exercises, training and humanitarian assistance and disaster relief (HADR). The MRSA now expands that envelope.
All these steps will come under the newly finalised US-India Defence Cooperation roadmap that will provide policy directions to defence industries and enable co-production of defence systems, as well as establish setup for collaborative research, testing and prototyping of the technologies developed.
The current expansion of Indo-US cooperation can be seen as an outcome arising from the four foundational agreements that India has signed with the US since 2002 – the General Security of Military Information Agreement (GSOMIA) in 2002, the LEMOA of 2016, the 2018 Communications Compatibility and Security Agreement (COMCASA) and the 2020 Basic Exchange and Cooperation Agreement for Geospatial Cooperation (BECA).
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On June 22, even as Modi’s state visit was on, official Pentagon spokesman Air Force Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder clarified with reference to the MSRA, that what was happening was not so much about enhancing the presence of the US Navy in the Indian Ocean Region, as about building Indian capacity. He said that the aim was to make India a logistics hub for the US and other partners in the Indo-Pacific, and “so we intend to support India in the creation of logistics, repair and maintenance infrastructure for aircraft and ships.” So, what we are seeing is only the first phase of the new relationship and setting the stage, as it were for future more robust defence cooperation.
All through the visit, it was also clear that there is no question of India becoming a formal military ally of the United States. Actually, what we are probably seeing is New Delhi adopting the Singapore model for its relationship with the US.
Singapore is not a formal military ally of the US, but it provides access, basing and overflight rights to the US. It has cooperated with US counter-terrorism and counter-piracy efforts. It is a major buyer of US equipment and military products and it conducts a number of training exercises with the US. Singapore also sends a significant number of its troops to the US for training every year.
Incidentally, India, too, hosts Singapore Air Force and Army units in its military facilities for training purposes.
The US Navy maintains a logistical command unit in Singapore and conducts rotational deployments of warships and P-8 maritime surveillance aircraft. Importantly, it has the Acquisition and Cross-Servicing Agreement (ACSA) with the US, which is of the type the Americans have signed with NATO allies and coalition partners, which allows the US to exchange supplies like food, fuel, transportation, ammunition and equipment.
Just as the US-Singapore relationship has its distinct geopolitical features, so, too, does the emerging one between India and the US.
Manoj Joshi is Distinguished Fellow, Observer Research Foundation, New Delhi.
This piece was first published on The India Cable – a premium newsletter from The Wire & Galileo Ideas – and has been republished here. To subscribe to The India Cable, click here.
