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Military facility sharing deal with U.S. soon

Sandeep Dikshit

NEW DELHI: India is close to taking a decision on signing the Access and Cross-Servicing Agreement (ACSA) to allow U.S. fighter planes and aircraft freer use of its facilities such as fuel, supplies and non-offensive equipment, a senior American military official said here on Saturday.

Under discussion for several years, the ACSA in the Indian context will be known as the Logistics Support Arrangement (LSA) at New Delhi’s request.

The Left parties oppose the proposed pact, for fear that some Indian naval bases could turn into permanent ports of call for the U.S. military.

Sri Lanka signed the ACSA in March this year after much cajoling and absence of any opposition from India due to its currently close ties with the U.S. The LSA was mentioned in the Bush-Manmohan statement of March 2006 which also cleared the decks for the civil nuclear agreement.

Here to push for the sale of more U.S. military equipment to India, the Pentagon’s chief point man for such deals, Lt. Gen. Jeffrey Kohler steered clear of the issue of U.S. fighters and warships accessing Indian military facilities on way to operations in places such as Afghanistan and Iraq. Instead, he focused on the advantages of the agreement during humanitarian crisis such as the Tsunami, when paperwork becomes a hindrance.

The U.S. was neither aggressively pushing for it nor would it be mandatory for India to open up its ports each time the U.S. desires. “It works extremely well in times of crises. This is not meant to establish routes for contingency operations. There are no operational strings attached to it. There is no obligation to use it. We never push [for ACSA]. We try to explain the advantages,” Lt. Gen. Kohler said.

Giving an example of the benefits of ACSA (or LSA), he said Indian fighters and warships on overseas deployment can take fuel from U.S. facilities and not pay for it immediately. Similarly U.S. fighters could also tank up at Indian military bases in a cash-less deal. A book balancing exercise at the end of the year would settle the outstanding amount owed by either side.

Or during U.N. peacekeeping work, Indian troops in need of equipment such as armoured personnel carriers could get them from U.S. troops nearby and pay later.

On his seventh and last visit to India as the Director of the Defence Cooperation Agency Lt. Gen Kohler also said there was no provision for storage of U.S. military supplies at Indian military bases. “There is no provision for storage. It is simply a logistics sharing arrangement. No offensive equipment is given. It is normally things like fuel, trucks, blankets and tents.”

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