US aims to expand India arms trade by 'billions of dollars'

US sales of military equipment to India have grown from zero in 2008 to around $8 billion

The US has already made “tremendous progress” in expanding weapons sales to India since 2008, and US companies could see “billions of dollars” in additional sales in coming years, a senior US State Department official has said.

Andrew Shapiro, assistant secretary of state for political-military affairs, said US sales of military equipment to India had grown from zero in 2008 to around $8 billion, despite a decision by India to choose a French-built plane in a closely-watched fighter plane competition.

“While that fighter competition loss was disappointing, we have made tremendous progress in the defence trade relationship,” he told a news briefing on Thursday. “There's going to be billions of dollars more in the next couple of years.”

He said a major arms trade initiative headed by US Deputy Defence Secretary Ashton Carter was making good progress and should lead to “an ever greater pace of additional defence trade”. He gave no details on future possible arms sales.

US weapons makers including Lockheed Martin Corp, Boeing Co, Raytheon Co and others, are keen to sell their wares to India, the world's largest arms importer, especially since US military spending is now declining after a decade of sharp growth fuelled by the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. India plans to spend about $100 billion over the next decade upgrading its mostly Soviet-era military hardware.