US Senators Seeks to Accelerate Indias Transition Away From Russian Weapons
Top US senators seek amendments to India’s purchase of Russian weapons and state that US-India defense partnerships rooted in shared democratic values are important to advance American interests in the strategic Indo-Pacific region.
American senators have requested US President Joe Biden to work with India to accelerate its transition away from Russian weapons. Nearly 70 per cent of Indian military equipment is of Russian or Soviet origin, including military aircraft and tanks. Russian imported weaponry to India, and dependence on the Russian military industry is a major concern for the United States. Along with the US, the West is also concerned about Indian purchases of Russian oil.
Senator Mark Warner, Co-Chair of the Senate India Caucus, and Senators Jack Reed and Jim Inhofe noted the significance of the Indian-US partnership in the Indo-Pacific region, built on common interests and shared democratic principles. The three senators, members of the Senate and upper house of the American parliament, presented these comments while proposing an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act.
They stated that a strong US-India defense partnership rooted in shared democratic values is crucial to advancing Washington’s interests in the strategic Indo-Pacific region. The Senators also claimed that India faces immediate and critical-serious regional border threats from countries with continued military aggression in the border areas.
The amendment, therefore, demanded that the US should initiate additional steps to encourage India to accelerate its transition away from weapons and defense systems developed by the Russian Federation while also supporting India’s immediate defense needs. It also reiterated that Indi relies on weapons manufactured by Russia for its national defense.
A partnership between the world’s oldest and largest democracies is critical and should continue to be strengthened in response to increasing challenges in the Indo-Pacific region to deliver an unequivocal signal that sovereignty and international law should be respected.
This amendment welcomes the US-India initiative on critical and emerging technologies and indicates that it is an imperative step to developing closer relationships between the governments, academia, and industry in both countries to deal with the latest advances in artificial intelligence, quantum computing, biotechnology, aerospace, and semiconductor manufacturing.
Furthermore, the amendment included that the collaborations between engineers and computer scientists through the US-India initiative on critical and emerging technologies are crucial to ensure that both the nations and other democracies across the world promote innovation and facilitate technological developments that continue to far outpace the Russian federation’s technology.
