India can save $20 mn at war game: US official

New Delhi, Dec 15 - India can save a whopping $20 million at a major war game in the US next year if the two countries ink a pact under which their militaries can provide each other logistical support in cashless transactions that are balanced at the end of year, a visiting American official has said.

'If the logistics support agreement (LSA) is in place, you can save, I estimate, $20 million' when the Indian Air Force (IAF) participates in the prestigious Red Flag war games next June, the official said during a select media interaction here Friday, speaking on condition of anonymity given the sensitive office he holds.

The IAF will feature in the exercise, conducted by the US Air Force (USAF) at its Nellis Air Base in Nevada, for the first time. The Indian government has allocated Rs.800 million for this.

But, as the US official pointed out, if the LSA is in place 'we will host you (the IAF) on the reciprocal understanding that you host us (the USAF) when we come to India for a similar exercise'.

The Indian government had, all along, been maintaining that it was not considering an LSA with the US. External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee, however, sprang a surprise when the told parliament last month that the pact was being actively considered.

According to the US official, an LSA would cover not only the IAF's physical presence of aircraft and personnel during their stay at Nellis but also the journey to and from the base.

'Nevada is a huge distance away and it's hugely expensive getting there. You'd have to land at a number of airports along the way and pay huge amounts for the fuel you take on.

'With the LSA, all that's taken care of. You provide us with similar facilities when our (military) aircraft land at Indian airports or our (naval) ships call at your ports,' the official pointed out.

'It's a valuable method of reducing friction and red tape,' he added of the agreement that was first mooted during the time of the previous National Democratic Alliance (NDA) regime and was revived when the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) came to power in 2004.

Asked if he was satisfied at the pace at which the issue was moving, the official replied: 'I think it's a good idea. I am confident the Indian government will deal with it as it thinks fit. Any objective observer will see the merit in it.'

In this context, he noted that New Delhi would not have had to pay hard cash when the Indian Navy evacuated upwards of 2,000 Indian and other sub-continental nationals from Lebanon during the height of the fighting between the Hezbollah and the Israeli defence forces last year.

'We replenished your vessels with fuel and other supplies for which you paid huge amounts. With an LSA, this would have been on a reciprocal basis,' the official noted.

(c) Indo-Asian News Service

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