Arun Vishwanathan

Publication

Indo-US Defence Cooperation: Punching Below Its Potential

India–US bilateral relations have witnessed several upheavals over the past seven decades, however, significant shifts in global geopolitics have led to growing proximity between the world’s two largest democracies. This article analyses Indo-US defence cooperation since India’s independence and argues that while the bilateral relationship has the scope and potential to emerge as a powerful and wide-ranging relationship, it is still waiting for its time in the sun. To some extent, this can be attributed to Cold War dynamics, India’s independent pursuit of its strategic programmes and the resultant technology denial regimes put in place by the United States, however both the countries have also failed to capitalise on several opportunities to strengthen their bilateral defence relationship. Thus, while the relationship has immense potential, it has largely been a tale of punching below its potential.

Pakistan’s Nasr/Hatf-IX Missile: Challenges for Indo-Pak Deterrence

On November 5, 2013 Pakistan conducted its fourth test of the Hatf-IX (Nasr) short range battlefield ‘nuclear’ missile. To date there have been four flight tests of the missile system. After the first three tests (April 19, 2011, May 29, 2012 and February 11, 2013) Pakistan’s Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR) had put out identical press releases.1 These statements claimed that the missile had a range of 60 km and carried ‘nuclear warheads (sic) of appropriate yield’.

The Nuclear Suppliers Group and the Indo-US nuclear deal

In the midst of the domestic hullabaloo surrounding the nuclear deal in India, the United States convened a special meeting of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) on September 20, 2007 at Vienna on the sidelines of the IAEA Annual General Conference to brief members on the deal. The NSG derives its important position in international civil nuclear commerce from its membership, which currently stands at forty-five and includes a majority of countries engaged in nuclear trade.