US submits list of 10 defence items for transfer to India

New Delhi 'reviewing' these offers

The US has submitted a list of 10 defence technologies for transfer to India, bringing it into a small group of closest allies with which America shares such sensitive details without export control.

Informed Indian sources confirmed to the PTI that the Pentagon has submitted a list of 10 sensitive technologies for transfer from US to India.

New Delhi is "reviewing" these offers and would get back to the United States soon, with its response, they said.

Meanwhile, the US has sought opinion from its strong defence industry to identify next set of technologies which could be shared and transferred to India.

According to US sources, the number of such defence technology transfers could cross 90.

Deputy Secretary of Defence Ashton Carter, who is leading unleashing of the defence ties between India and the US through the Defence Trade and Technology Initiative, said the US has submitted a white paper explaining where India falls within US export control system.

"The paper we sent them covered several key areas from export controls rules themselves to end use monitoring and the need to identify proposals for co-production and co-development," he said at the Center for American Progress.

"We have demonstrated repeatedly that we can release sensitive technology to India. We've adapted our system in ways that will speed our release process for India, especially in the Department of Defence, recognising that for, of course, all partners, this process is subject to case-by-case review and there will always be some technologies that we will keep to ourselves," Carter said.

"We changed our mindset around technology transfer to India in the Department of Defence from a culture of presumptive no to one of presumptive yes," he said.

Asserting that India has been brought at part with closet of its allies, Carter said the Obama Administration has now included India in the list of "so called Group of Eight" that receives the best of the technologies without export control.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who recently met US President Barack Obama, has said steps have been taken to expand the Indo-US ties and move away from a buyer-seller cooperation to joint development and production in the field of defence.