India ‘set to approve’ military communications deal with US

India is likely to give its approval to a landmark military communications agreement with the United States during high-level talks today, two Indian government defence sources said, laying the ground for Washington to sell sensitive defence equipment.A first source said the Communications Compatibility and Security Agreement (COMCASA) was discussed in a meeting of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Cabinet Committee on Security yesterday evening, hours ahead of a meeting between the defence and foreign heads of India and the United States.“It will be a positive development tomorrow,” the source said, declining to be named given the sensitivity of the matter.“It will definitely be reflected in the joint statement.”A second government defence source said there was “high expectation” that the agreement would be signed today by US Defence Secretary Jim Mattis and India’s Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.The agreement has also been customised to address Indian concerns, said the second source, who had been briefed on the matter.It would only apply to equipment that India buys from the United States and not open up the rest of the Indian military to US communications networks, said the source.Earlier this year, an Indian defence source said that New Delhi had shed its opposition to the agreement.Indian and US officials have been seeking a breakthrough in the talks over the COMCASA to expand defence co-operation between the world’s two largest democracies.Under the agreement, the militaries of the two countries would be able to securely communicate with each other.The United States said the agreement is essential to extend defence ties between the countries.India has historically been opposed to the agreement because it sees it as being too intrusive.Today, Mattis and US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will hold talks with External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Sitharaman for the so-called two-plus-two discussions in New Delhi.“We hope we can find opportunities to continue to expand the relationship, not only diplomatic and military to military, but a good set of business relationships as well between the two countries,” Pompeo told reporters on Tuesday, calling India the United States’ “only major defence partner”.Meanwhile, the Congress yesterday demanded that the government clear its “doublespeak” on its defence deals and asked why it did not apply the same principle in the Rafale deal with France as it did with the AK-103 assault rifles deal with Russia.It said the government had turned down the Russian proposal to make a private Indian entity its partner for the joint manufacture.The party said the “trigger of Modi government’s AK-47 deal with Russia has backfired for the Rafale ‘scam’ and made it more murkier”.“A fallacious argument of the Modi government on the Rafale scam has been nipped in the bud, by its own recent negotiations in another defence deal, which is the AK-rifle deal with Russia,” said Congress spokesman Abhishek Manu Singhvi.“That the Rafale deal was a government-to-government agreement and the Modi government had absolutely no role in facilitating the Rs30,000 crore offset contract,” he added.Citing media reports, Singhvi said it has been revealed that Sitharaman has reportedly turned down a Russian request to make another private Indian entity (Adani Group) its partner for the joint manufacture of Rs 30bn worth of AK-103 assault rifles for the Indian Army.“The Modi government has reportedly advised Russia that its firm Kalashnikov Concern should tie up with the state-run Ordnance Factory Board if it wants its proposal to manufacture the AK-103 assault rifles in India to be considered by the Defence Ministry,” said Singhvi.