India: Military Snippets-2

The recent success of the Manmohan Singh government in the vote of confidence in Parliament appear to have triggered a series of activities involving India and the U.S. that would have been swept under the carpet to stave off Left criticism. Here are some succulent bits

Indo-US defence procurement and production group meeting

According to a New Delhi datelined story the Indo-US defence procurement and production group met at the ministry of defence (MoD) headquarters in New Delhi on August 8. This is the first such meeting ever since the Left parties withdrew support to the government in July. The meeting is significant as India is in the final stages of clinching a US $2.1 billion deal for acquiring from Boeing eight maritime surveillance aircraft.

India to upgrade intelligence sharing with the U.S.

Another news report from New Delhi says that after the terrorist attack on its embassy staff in Kabul, New Delhi was actively considering upgrading the intelligence sharing mechanism with Washington. This would allow both sides to alert each other in case of a terrorist attack against either of the countries. It seems the CIA’s intelligence alert on the Indian embassy attack in Kabul was passed through the Afghanistan's National Security Directorate rather than directly to either the Ministry of Defence in New Delhi or the Indian Embassy in Washington. The much touted defence cooperation between India and the U.S. still appears to be limping trying to untangle the bureaucracy.

Indian Air Force pilots to join US Air Force training exercises

A Las Vegas, USA, news item says for the first time the India's air force pilots are likely to participate in US Air Force training exercises above the Nevada desert. This will be a major step forward in building closer India-US strategic defence cooperation.

Sixty five aircraft will be in the skies over a two week period during the exercise according to US Air Force officials. South Korean and French pilots will also be taking part in the combat exercises from Monday, August 11, 2008.

The report quoted a South Asia specialist as saying "This particular Air Force exercise is important because India is included among some very important allies."

The icing on the cake

It seems the U.S. is also learning from the Indian army. Captain Greg Adams and 29 US Special Forces commandos have joined a training programme at the Counter Insurgency Jungle Warfare School (CIJWS) at Vairangte in India's remote northeastern state of Mizoram. The US Green Berets are being trained on sub-conventional guerrilla warfare, especially in dealing with urban terrorism.

The report quoted Captain Adams as saying, "This is the most amazing military education facility anywhere.” He further added, The training we are currently being imparted here would go a long way in tackling terror. We have also shared our experiences with our Indian counterparts... the entire exercise is simply great."

So far, more than 156,000 soldiers have been trained at CIJWS, including about 1,500 foreign soldiers from 26 countries since the school was set up in 1970. The first batch for training from the US came in 2003 when a group of about 100 elite US commandos completed a three-week anti-insurgency combat training.

The school has also trained soldiers from Sri Lanka, Uzbekistan, Nepal, Malaysia, Indonesia and other countries. They are also expecting soldiers from China and other parts of the world soon according to the commandant of the CIJWS. The soldiers receive training in identifying improvised explosive devices (IEDs), jungle survival, counter terrorism, and interrogation techniques.


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