New Delhi signs five deals, buying fighter jets, an aircraft carrier and nuclear reactors.
By Mark Magnier
March 13, 2010
Reporting from New Delhi
India signed five deals Friday to purchase more than $7 billion in hardware and expertise from Russia, including an aircraft carrier, a fleet of MIG-29 fighters, defense and space technology and at least 12 civilian nuclear reactors.
On the minds of both parties, analysts said, was a nation not present at the signing. "China will be the ghost in the room," wrote analyst C. Raja Mohan in an opinion piece this week in the Indian Express.
Having a working aircraft carrier -- India's only carrier, the 50-year-old British-built Viraat, rarely leaves port -- should allow India to expand its presence in the Indian Ocean. India has watched China in recent years forge strategic port alliances with Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Myanmar as part of Beijing's South Asian "string of pearls" strategy.
China doesn't have an aircraft carrier, although U.S. intelligence reports suggest it could within five years. Nor is it expected time soon to base military craft in the Indian Ocean. But Beijing is heavily outspending India on defense and is keen to safeguard its seaborne oil trade with the Middle East, a lifeline for its hyper-charged economy.
"China is not now in the Indian Ocean, but we don't know what will happen in 15 years," said Rahul Bhonsle, a retired Indian brigadier general and head of Security-Risks.com, a military analysis firm. "They've already showed their capabilities in the Pacific, and we need to be ready."
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