India can access 99% of US tech

Washington, June 26

India will be the only country outside US’ formal treaty allies that will gain access to almost 99 per cent of latest America’s defence technologies after being recognised as a “major defence partner”, a senior Obama administration official has said.

“India (now) enjoys access to (defence) technologies that is on par with our treaty allies. That is a very unique status. India is the only other country that enjoys that status outside our formal treaty allies,” the official said.

Early this month, after a meeting between US President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the White House, the US, in a joint statement, recognised India as a “major defence partner”. “We were looking for something unique. This language you would not find in any arms transfer legislation or any of our existing policies. This is new guidance and new language that is intended to reflect the unique things that we have done with India under our defence partnership,” the senior administration official said.

“This is intended to solidify the India-specific forward leaning policies for approval that the (US) President and (Defence) Secretary (Ashton) Carter...and our export control system have implemented in the last eight years,” the official said. Under this recognition, India would receive licence-free access to a wide range of dual-use technologies in conjunction with steps that New Delhi has committed to take to advance its export control objectives.  — PTI