NEW DELHI: The United States has offered India joint production in military equipment and detailed discussions would take place during two high-level meetings planned in Washington.

Talks on joint production of F-16s and F-18s would be held during the meeting of the India-U.S. Defence Planning Group (co-chaired by the Defence Secretaries of both countries) and the Defence Minister, Pranab Mukherjee's visit to Washington, said Jeffrey Kohler who heads the Defence Security Cooperation Agency, the organisation that oversees U.S. military sales and financing programmes to foreign countries.

Lt. Gen Kohler was here to hold the first discussions between the Indian Air Force and the U.S. Government on the possibility of sale and joint production of F-16 and F-18 planes. The U.S. team will return later to explain the main features of the aircraft to a joint delegation of the army and the navy.

Basic explanations

The talks spanned two hours with the U.S. team explaining the basic capabilities and the upgrade cycle of both aircraft, one made by Lockheed Martin and the other by Boeing, said Lt. Gen. Kohler, who was an F-16 pilot. The IAF delegation was led by the IAF Deputy Chief of Staff, J.S. Gujral.

Asked about the U.S. Government's role in selling the fighter planes, Lt. Gen. Kohler said: "We read the request for information and felt both [F-16 and F-18] best met the requirements. Therefore, both Boeing and Lockheed have applied for licences. The DSCA and the U.S. Embassy will support both companies equally."

On the issue of long-term support to the planes against the backdrop of India's previous experience of U.S. sanctions, he pointed out that the U.S. had sold 11,000 defence items worth over $220 billion to many countries.

"We are the largest exporters of service equipment and training. This speaks loudly for itself otherwise those countries would have been looked elsewhere." However, only a few were penalised for human rights abuses and loan defaults.

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