India wants ten more P-8I aircraft for surveillance, reconnaissance and anti-submarine operations (Representative image) | Photo Credit: PTI

New Delhi: On the eve of the visit of the U.S. Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, to India, the first step towards a major defence deal with the United States has been taken.

India wants ten more P-8I aircraft for surveillance, reconnaissance and anti-submarine operations in addition to the eight it contracted for in 2009 for the Navy. The search for the additional ten P8Is cleared its first hurdle today when the Services Capital Acquisition Categorization Higher Committee (SCAPCHC), headed by the Chief of Integrated Staff or CISC, a senior lieutenant-general and including the three vice chiefs of staff of the three services cleared the proposal of about Rs 22,500 crore.

This is only the first step. The deal will have to be cleared by the Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) headed by defence minister Rajnath Singh and including the three chiefs and the defence secretary and then, by the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and including the finance, defence, home and external affairs ministers.

The purchase will be through the Foreign Military Sales (FMS) route, meaning it is a government-to-government deal. It is also a follow-on order. This avoids the lengthy process of bidding and usually, charges of corruption and favouritism. Many large orders have taken the FMS route including very recently, the 145 M-777 light howitzers for the Indian Army and also, the C-130 and C-17 aircraft and the Apache and Chinook helicopters.

"This is a follow-on order and through the FMS system. We have indicated we especially want this aircraft," a senior navy official said.

The Pompeo visit later this month comes at a time when Indo-US defence ties are at a high, primarily after the signing of the COMCASA (Communications, Compatibility and Security Agreement) and a similar logistics agreement earlier.

But there are also some major differences: the USA is not happy with the purchase of the S-400 air-defence missiles from Russia. The Indian side feels there were indications of acceptance by the USA earlier. Issues like the purchase of Iranian oil, though that is coming down and the differences over the Generalised System of Preferences (GSP) trade agreement also have to be sorted out between the two countries.

The USA is also keen that the Indian Air Force buys the F-35 fighter aircraft. India is keen to buy about 114 fighters and the French, Russians and Swedes are also bidding for the deal.

