The US adminstration will take a "forward leaning " view on any requests by India's armed forces for advanced weapon systems, a top American official has said.
Calling on India to diversify its sources of arms purchases and weapon inductions, visiting US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Defence James Clad gave an assurance that Washington would be "forward leaning" on any requests for hi-tech equipment from India.
Hinting that there are "vested interests" among India's traditional weapon supliers, Clad said these elements did not want a change in the weapon suppliers for the country.
"India should diversify its arms sources so as to use arms inductions as a means to augment its fighting potential and capabilities," he said.
It is time that India's defence planners worked towards making the country's aeronautical and defence industry global in nature and bring in economies of scale, he said.
"We have some institutional safeguards for weapons technology transfers. But along with it, there is a system of review whenever major sales come up," he remarked.
Clad's comments assume significance in the wake of India floating its biggest ever global tender of over $10 billion to purchase 126 fighter jets. Estimates have also projected that New Delhi will spend a whopping $40 billion on arms purchases in the coming years.
Though giant US armament companies have been in contention in India for the past two years, they are yet to notch up any major deal.