Washington, Jan 23 (IANS) The US has revised its defence trade policies to make exports of military equipment to “friends, allies and particularly our coalition partners”, including India, faster while still preventing their diversion to unauthorised recipients.
An Export Control Directive issued Tuesday by President George W. Bush will ensure that US defence trade policies and practices better support the national security strategy of the US, the state department said.
The package of reforms initiated at the behest of the National Security Council and the departments of state and defence will improve the manner in which the department of state licenses the export of defence equipment, services and technical data, it said.
This would enable “the US government to respond more expeditiously to the military equipment needs of our friends, allies, and particularly our coalition partners,” a department spokesman stated.
Although license-processing times for items controlled by the US Munitions List will be reduced as a result of this directive, Washington is committed to ensuring that existing measures to prevent the diversion of such items to unauthorised recipients remain strong and effective.
Guidelines will be issued that require a decision by the US government on defence trade export license applications within 60 days unless there is a strong reason for additional time, such as a requirement for congressional notification.
Initial efforts in this regard have resulted in a nearly 50 percent reduction since April 2007 in the number of export license applications pending with the state department, it said.
The electronic licensing system will be upgraded to permit the submission of all types of defence trade licenses and to enable all agencies to access the same electronic information and a multi-agency working group will be established to improve procedures for conducting export enforcement investigations.
Earlier this month, India and the US held four days of high-level talks in Washington focusing on expansion of defence cooperation, including in production and procurement of arms and equipment.
The two sides looked at increasing the transfers of military equipment and technology to further develop bilateral defence cooperation envisaged under the June 28, 2005 defence framework set in place by the then defence minister Pranab Mukherjee and former US secretary for defence Ronald Rumsfeld.
Last month, eyeing a potential $40 billion arms market including a new multi-role fighter aircraft and missile-defence systems, a high-level US government working group cleared the way for its two top defence suppliers – Lockheed and Boeing – to offer India cutting-edge radar technology.
In February 2007, leading US defence companies mounted a mission to India to consolidate what they called “the momentum of the recent US-India strategic partnership” and to showcase American excellence in technology superiority, reliability and long-term partnership.
Boeing showcased its F/A-18f, C-17 transport aircraft, and Chinook heavy-lift chopper, while Lockheed Martin presented the F-16, C-130j, and P-3c at India’s largest ever air show in Bangalore. Many other US companies displayed their equipment at the show.
Other companies on the mission included Honeywell, General Electric, Raytheon, The Cohen Group, United Technologies Corporation/Pratt & Whitney, Bell Helicopter Textron, Emergent Bio-Solutions, L-3 Communications, and The Fremont Group.
It was the first time in history that the US government had approved such a large fleet of military aircraft for static and flying display in a major air show, according to US-India Business Council (USIBC), an advocacy group representing over 250 of the largest US companies investing in India.
High technology industries employ more than four million workers in the US and one in six manufacturing jobs depends on exports of manufactured goods. High technology also accounted for $345 billion or 37 percent of all US exports of manufactured goods in 2006, according to commerce department figures.
Hailing the presidential directives, the US Chamber of Commerce, the world’s largest business federation representing more than three million businesses, described them as important steps towards enhancing national security and promoting global competitiveness.