India outlier in Asia’s ‘Quad’
Delhi won’t sign military data sharing
NEW DELHI, Nov 22, (RTRS): The Trump administration is pushing security ties between the United States, India, Japan and Australia, but the revival of the Asian “Quad” must overcome lingering mistrust in New Delhi towards its allies that hampers genuine military cooperation.
Joint naval drills have been at the heart of a relationship that analysts widely see as a move to counterbalance China’s rising power by binding the region’s leading democracies more closely together.
But while the navies of the United States, Japan and Australia can easily operate together – based on common US-designed combat systems and data links – India is the outlier.
Not only are most of its ships and warplanes Russian-made, its government and military remain deeply reluctant to share data and open up sensitive military communications systems.
The United States has carried out more naval exercises with India than any other nation. But naval sources and experts say these are more about “cultural familiarisation” than drills for joint combat.
Because India will not sign an agreement on sharing data, naval exercises are conducted through voice and text commands with rudimentary SMS-style data exchange, Indian and Japanese military sources said.
“Think of it as directing your friend to your house in the 1980s. Your left may be his right, neither of you have situational awareness,” said Abhijit Iyer Mitra, a senior fellow at New Delhi’s Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies who has tracked the military exercises.
“What the Americans want is 2017 – drop a pin on Google maps and hit share. You know where your friend is and he knows where your house is and how to get to it.”
The Indian defence ministry did not respond to a request for a comment.
The so-called Quad to discuss and cooperate on security emerged briefly as an initiative a decade ago – much to the annoyance of China – and was revived recently, with an officials-level meeting this month on the sidelines of a regional gathering in Manila.
The Trump administration has talked up cooperation with India as part of efforts for a “free, open and thriving Indo-Pacific”.
Describing the Indian and Pacific Oceans as a “single strategic arena”, US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson described India and the United States as regional “bookends”.
“In concrete terms, it will lead to great co-ordination between the Indian, Japanese and American militaries including maritime domain awareness, anti-submarine warfare, amphibious warfare, and humanitarian assistance, disaster relief, and search and rescue,” he said.
To be sure, India and the United States have steadily been bringing more powerful ships into their annual “Malabar” drills that have been expanded to include Japan in recent years.
This year the USS Nimitz carrier group was deployed for the manoeuvres off India’s eastern coast, along with an aircraft carrier from India and a helicopter carrier from Japan.