India is “a key partner and the biggest strategic opportunity” for the United States as New Delhi displays more openness to fortify bilateral security ties, Admiral Harry Harris, the Commander of the US Pacific Command, said, PTI reported.
“We share democratic values, we share the same concerns, and we operate more frequently in the Indo-Pacific region together,” Harris told members of the Senate Armed Services Committee during a Congressional hearing in Washington on March 15. He added that the Quad consisting of India, United States, Japan and Australia, is an important idea on nations that think on similar lines and can go after the challenges in the Indo-Pacific region. The United States cannot have expectations from India to suddenly stop using Russian arms, he said.
“Seventy per cent of their military hardware is Russian in origin. You can’t expect India to go cold turkey on that,” Harris said, adding, “I think we ought to look at ways to have a glide path, so that we can continue to trade in arms within India.”
Pointing out that the United States and India have a growing confluence of interests, including maritime security and domain awareness, counter-piracy, counter-terrorism, humanitarian assistance and coordinated responses to natural disasters and transnational threats, Harris said that both the countries wish for global stability and support for rules-based international order.
With India operating U.S.-sourced airframes, such as P-8s, C-130Js, C-17s, AH-64s, and CH-47s, and M777 howitzers, defense sales are at an all-time high with India. “At the moment, India is considering a number of US systems for purchase, all of which Pacific Command fully supports: the F-16 for India’s large single-engine, multi-role fighter acquisition program; the F/A-18E for India’s multi-engine, carried-based fighter purchase; a reorder of 12-15 P-8Is; a potential purchase of SeaGuardian UAS; MH-60R multi-role sea-based helicopter; and F-35 Joint Strike Fighter,” Harris was quoted as saying in the report.
He added that the United States is seeking to pursue a continuing, consistent, routine and institutionalized strategic partnership with India. With a new generation of political leaders emerging, India has exhibited that it is keen to bolster security ties with the United States and is also open to adjusting its historic policy of non-alignment to address strategic interests that are common. The Pacific Command, he said, recognizes a security relationship with India as a major command line-of-effort.