Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
research, and industrial cooperation. This policy is followed as well by Russia,
which signed during President Putin's visit to India in October 2000 not only a
Strategic Partnership Declaration but also a 10-year Indo-Russian agreement on
military technical cooperation.
22
Indian requirements are large and growing in number and sophistication. The
demand for high technology is vital, for the successes of the Defense and
Research Development Organization (DRDO), one of the key participants to the
Indo-French High Committee for Defense, if remarkable, are not always as quick
as expected. DRDO insiders recognize that in many fields India 'tries to catch up
with others', rather than producing outstanding new defense equipment.
23
Taking into account the opportunities, and the rise of the successive Indian
defense budgets, (in fact lower than it seems when assessed in real terms), Indo-
French defense deals have developed recently. Most prominent in this regard
was the order, concluded in 2000, for 10 new Mirage 2000 jets (to be delivered
in 2003), in addition to assistance in constructing an indigenously designed
submarine, avionics for MiG-21 and GPS navigation packages for Sukhoi-30
aircraft. Consultations are on for Alpha Advanced Jet Trainers (challenged by
British and Russian competitors) and for the French-made
Scorpen
-class
submarine, the next generation after the
Agosta
series delivered to, or under
construction in, Pakistan. Battlefield surveillance radars and new systems for
T-72 tanks are of interest for the Army. A detailed list would be long, for 54
armaments systems are said to have been identified for joint production.
24
The sensitive issue of French arms sales to Pakistan is no more a matter of
acrimony. The agreement signed in 1994 for three
Agosta
90B submarines, to be
equipped with Exocet missiles, has been hardly appreciated in New Delhi. But
India had to accept that Paris felt fair to honor past contracts, hoping that in the
present context of Indo-French 'active strategic partnership' no new major deals
affecting the regional balance would be signed between Paris and Islamabad.
Looking at the total orders of French defense equipment passed by New Delhi
and Islamabad all along the 1990s, it appears that, although the value of
Pakistan's orders was more than twice India's share, the trend turned in favor of
India after 1996.
Before General Musharraf joined the US-led war against the Taliban and Al-
Qaeda in September 2001, Pakistan saw herself as neglected by all Western
countries courting India's emerging market. The international community is
certainly looking differently to Pakistan today. Even before this shift, an Indian
realist taking a long-term view acknowledged that 'France is capable of
sustaining multiple relationships with China, India, Pakistan. (…) Expecting
France to renounce its relationship with Pakistan for us is being unrealistic'.
25
New Delhi would however expect from France as well as from any other friendly
country, that in a context of regional persistent tension, no defense sale would
alter the balance of power between the two South Asian rivals.
