Washington, Dec 9,2020: India’s weapons procurement from the United States jumped from a meagre USD 6.2 million to a whopping USD 3.4 billion in the final year of the Donald Trump’s administration, according to official data.
As per the data released by the Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA), the jump in the sale of American weapons to India comes at a time when sale of weapons from the US to other countries has dipped to USD 50.8 billion in 2020 from USD 55.7 billion in 2019.
In 2019, the sale of US weapons to foreign countries was USD 55.7 billion. In 2017, it was USD 41.9 billion, it said.
Major buyers of American weapons in 2020 were India (USD 3.4 billion up from USD 6.2 million in fiscal year 2019), Morocco (USD 4.5 billion up from USD 12.4 million), Poland (USD 4.7 billion up from USD 673 million), Singapore (USD 1.3 billion up from USD 137 million), Taiwan (USD 11.8 billion up from USD 876 million), and the United Arab Emirates (USD 3.6 billion up from USD 1.1 billion), the data showed.
Several countries reported a drop in purchase of weapons from the US.
Prominent among them were Saudi Arabia which came down from USD 14.9 billion in 2019 to USD 1.2 billion in 2020, Afghanistan (USD 1.1 billion down from USD 1.6 billion), Belgium (USD 41.8 million down from USD 5.5 billion), Iraq (USD 368 million down from USD 1.4 billion), and South Korea (USD 2.1 billion down from USD 2.7 billion).
According to the 2020 edition of the Historical Sales Book, India purchased weapons worth USD 754.4 million in 2017 and USD 282 million in 2018. Between 1950 and 2020, US sale of weapons to India under Foreign Military Sales (FMS) category was USD 12.8 billion.
For Pakistan, the official figures reflected that sale of weapons under FMS did happen, even though there was a freeze in any military and security assistance to Islamabad from the Trump administration.
In 2020, US sale of weapons to Pakistan was USD 146 million, in 2018 it was USD 65 million and in 2017 it was USD 22 million.
In 2019, there was no sale of US military weapons to Pakistan. In fact, the US refunded USD 10.8 million to Pakistan, taken for the purchase of weapons.
Between 1950 and 2020, Pakistan purchased weapons worth USD 10 billion from the US under FMS.
However, the total supply of American military weapons to Pakistan is much more, as a major chunk of weapons to Pakistan has gone from United States as military and security assistance.
According to the Assistant Secretary of State for Political Military Affairs Clarke Cooper, fiscal 2020 saw a total of USD 175.8 billion in US government-authorised arms exports. This is overall a 2.8 per cent increase since fiscal year 2019.
The overall value of State Department-authorised government-to-government FMS cases implemented by the Defense Security Cooperation Agency decreased 8.3 per cent from USD 55.39 billion in Fiscal Year 2019 to USD 50.78 billion in Fiscal Year 2020.
“The dollar value of potential FMS sales, formally notified to Congress, also rose by more than 50 per cent from USD 58.33 billion to USD 87.64 billion. This was driven by the July potential sale of USD 23.11 billion worth of F-35 aircraft to Japan, which was the second largest single FMS notification ever authorised by the Department of State, Cooper said.
The Direct Commercial Sales (DCS), which is the Department of State-authorised commercial export licenses, totalled USD 124.3 billion in fiscal year 2020, and this was up from USD 114.7 billion in fiscal year 2019, he said.
“This represented an 8.4 per cent increase. This total value covers authorisations of hardware, defense services, and technical data. The total number of licences issued decreased by 20-per cent from 36,111 in Fiscal Year 2019 to 28,800 in Fiscal Year 2020,” Cooper said.
The top commercial DCS notified to Congress in Fiscal Year 2020 included a USD 8.39 billion sale to Australia, Canada, Denmark, Italy, Japan, and the United Kingdom for F-35 components.
This also included a USD 3.2 billion sale to Australia for P-8 aircraft parts, and a USD 2.48 billion sale to United Kingdom and Australia for E-7 airborne early warning and control aircraft, Cooper said.
Nov 17,2020:Saudi Arabia reserves the right to arm itself with nuclear weapons if regional rival Iran cannot be stopped from making one, the kingdom’s minister of state for foreign affairs has said.
“It’s definitely an option,” Adel al-Jubeir told the DPA news agency in a recent interview. If Iran becomes a nuclear power, he said, more countries would follow suit.
“And Saudi Arabia has made it very clear, that it will do everything it can to protect its people and to protect its territories.”
Tehran has been working on the use of nuclear power for decades. In 2015, it signed a landmark nuclear deal with world powers to stop the development of a bomb in exchange for lifting sanctions.
But US President Donald Trump in 2018 unilaterally withdrew his country from the deal and brought it to the brink of failure.
Trump’s administration wants a more far-reaching programme and an end to Iran’s regional interference – a position supported by Saudi Arabia.
“We believe the Iranians have only responded to pressure,” said al-Jubeir.
Asked what changes he anticipates could come once President-elect Joe Biden takes charge in January, he said: “We will have to see.”
Biden has promised to return to the nuclear deal but has said he will seek to put pressure on Iran’s regional activities and missile programmes, among other things.
Last week, Saudi Arabia’s King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud urged the world to take a “decisive stance” to address Iran’s efforts to develop its nuclear and ballistic missile programmes.
In response, Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh called on the kingdom to refrain from “baseless allegations and hate-mongering”.
New Delhi , August 30,Aug2020: Acting swiftly after the Galwan valley clash on June 15 in Eastern Ladakh, the Indian Navy sailed out its frontline warship for deployment in the South China Sea much to the displeasure of the Chinese who raised objections over the move during the talks between the two sides.
The Chinese have been objecting to the presence of Indian Navy ships in the region where it has significantly expanded its presence since 2009 through artificial islands and military presence.
“Soon after the Galwan clash broke out in which 20 of our soldiers were killed, the Indian Navy deployed one of its frontline warship to the South China Sea where the People’s Liberation Army’s Navy objects to the presence of any other force claiming the majority of the waters as part of its territory,” government sources told ANI.
The immediate deployment of the Indian Navy warship in the South China Sea had a desired effect on the Chinese Navy and security establishment as they complained to the Indian side about the Indian warship’s presence there during the diplomatic level talks with the Indian side, the sources said.
During the deployment in the South China Sea where the American Navy had also deployed its destroyers and frigates, the Indian warship was continuously maintaining contact with their American counterparts over secure communication systems, the sources informed.
Srinagar, Jul 18,2020: Expressing satisfaction at the security situation in the Jammu and Kashmir, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Saturday impressed upon the Army commanders to be prepared for any adversarial misadventure.
Mr Singh, accompanied by Chief of the Defence Staff (CDS) General Bipin Rawat and Chief of the Army Staff (COAS) General M N Naravane arrived at Srinagar technical airport on Friday evening from Leh in Ladakh, where he reviewed the overall security situation on the Line of Control (LAC) and hinterland. This was first visit of the DM to Ladakh after the standoff between the armies of India and China on the LAC began on May 5.
A defence ministry spokesman said in Srinagar on Saturday that Mr Singh immediately after arriving here was given a detailed briefing by Chinar Corps Commander on the overall security situation in the Kashmir valley.
Mr Singh arrived in Srinagar on the day when security forces killed three Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) militants in south Kashmir on Friday. A senior police officer said that Kashmir Police has equated last year’s tough benchmark of killing 133 militants from January I, 2019 to August 4, 2019. The same has been achieved in six months and seventeen days this year. Zero tolerance for militancy.
Spokesman said the DM expressed satisfaction at the security situation in J&K and impressed upon the commanders to be prepared for any adversarial misadventure.
He also attended a security review meeting along with Lt Governor G C Murmu of J&K, Chief Secretary, Director General of Police (DGP) Jammu and Kashmir Police, senior functionaries of Central Armed Paramilitary Force (CAPF) and intelligence agencies.
The Defence minister lauded the synergy among all agencies working for the security and development of J&K.
Defence sources said told UNI that Mr Singh is likely to visit some forward areas and meet troops guarding the Line of Control (LoC), where a number of infiltration attempts were made by militants. An infiltrator was killed on Thursday immediately after he sneaked into this side from Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (POK) in Keran sector, where search operation was going on in the woods.
Source said the DM will get a detailed brief from field commanders about the measures taken to foil any infiltration bid from POK, where a large number of militants are waiting to sneak into this side before the infiltration routes are closed due to snowfall.