By Donna Miles
American Forces Press Service
CAMP SMITH, Hawaii, Aug. 14, 2012 – As
U.S. Pacific Command strives to build stronger alliances and partnerships
across the Asia-Pacific region, one of its big focuses is on taking the
military-to-military relationship with India to the next level.
The new defense strategic guidance
announced in January resets U.S. priorities toward the region, specifically
calling for investments in a long-term strategic partnership with India “to
support its ability to service as a regional economic anchor and provider of
security in the broader Indian Ocean region.”
Navy Adm. Samuel J. Locklear III, who
took command of Pacom in March, is using that guidance as his marching orders
as he implements the expanded Asia-Pacific strategy.
“We hope to partner with [India] to
share the strategic landscape as it applies to how we apply security to the
globe that allows prosperity and peace, freedom of movement and … prosperity in
the world,” he told American Forces Press Service.
India’s strategic location between West
Asia and the Middle East, and its ascent across economic, military, diplomatic
and informational fronts makes it an influential leader in the region, said
Army Col. Michael Albaneze, director of Locklear’s India strategic focus group.
The group of six military and civilian
experts, one of three “mini think tanks” within the Pacom staff, advises
Locklear and his senior staff on a broad range of issues that shape India’s
strategic environment, and ways to advance the U.S.-India strategic
partnership, Albaneze explained.
It’s a partnership that’s been slow in
forming, he conceded. For the past half-century, India has been a leader in the
nonaligned movement, and it has an official policy of being “strategically
autonomous.”
That said, Albaneze recognized signs of
India’s willingness to engage increasingly with the United States as it rises
on the world stage. The two countries had their first strategic dialogue in
2010, with two more since then, the most recent in June.
Without a long history of cooperation,
Albaneze noted a “maturing process” that could, over time, evolve into a more
typical relationship characterized by routine engagement across the board. “We
are not quite there yet, but there is a lot of effort in trying to move in that
direction,” he said, adding that the relationship is continuing to deepen.
One high point is the exercise program.
India partners with the United States in dozens of military exercises every
year as it builds an increasingly strong military. Its navy is one of the
world’s largest, and its army deploys routinely for peacekeeping operations,
Albaneze noted.
Most of the exercises tend to be at the
component level. The annual Exercise Malabar involves the U.S. and Indian
navies, with several international observers during its latest iteration, in
April. The U.S. and Indian armies train together through Yudh Abhyas exercises,
frequently weaving humanitarian assistance and disaster response scenarios into
the engagements.
The two countries’ air forces train
together through Cope India exercises, and the Indian air force participated
for the first time in the U.S.-sponsored Red Flag exercise in 2008. Although
India has no marine corps, U.S. Marines train with an Indian army brigade that
specializes in amphibious operations during Exercise Shatrujeet.
“Those are just the major mil-mil
engagements,” Albaneze said, noting a broad array of other military-to-military
engagements and exchanges at U.S. and Indian military training centers and
schoolhouses.
Both the United States and India hope to
increase the complexity of the exercise program over time, he said, and to
elevate them into joint engagements that involve more than just one service.
Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta
underscored during his visit to India in June, just ahead of the 2012
U.S.-India Strategic Dialogue, that a “close partnership with America will be
key to meeting India's own stated aims of a modern and effective defense
force.”
“We have built a strong foundation,” the
secretary said. “But for this relationship to truly provide security for this
region and for the world, we will need to deepen our defense and security
cooperation.”
That, Panetta said, extends to closer
collaboration in sharing defense technology and developing future systems.
Despite India’s decision not to buy a U.S. advanced jet fighter, U.S. defense
sales to India have grown to more than $8 billion with the potential to
increase more.
The secretary recognized legal
restrictions that have hampered some sales, and vowed to work to eliminate as
many hurdles as possible.
“The United States is firmly committed
to providing the best defense technology possible to India,” he told Indian
leaders in Delhi, while recognizing India’s ambitions to advance its own defense
industry. “We are both leaders in technology development and we can do
incredible work together,” Panetta said.
Deputy Defense Secretary Ashton B.
Carter followed up that visit in July, encouraging India to move forward in
engaging with the United States across the spectrum, from dialogue to exercises
to defense trade and research cooperation.
“We want to develop a joint vision for
U.S.-India defense cooperation,” Carter said. “We want to knock down any
remaining bureaucratic barriers in our defense relationship, and strip away the
impediments. And we want to set big goals to achieve.”
Recognizing the many mutual and
converging interests the United States and India share, Albaneze said he’s
hopeful about their future prospects.
“I am an optimist on the relationship,”
he said. “Every time there is a hiccup, I just think that it’s part of our
getting to learn more and more about each other, and how we interact.
“Sometimes it’s two steps forward and
one step back,” Albaneze continued. “But at the end of the day, we still made a
step forward -- and that is really what we are trying to do in the region.”
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