The Ministry of Defence has said India is not in talks with the United States to acquire anti-missile defence systems, popularly known as 'Star Wars'.
A team from the US reached New Delhi on Sunday to make a presentation to the ministry about America's AMD systems, which can destroy incoming missiles before they hit their targets.
The Patriot missiles had proven very effective in the first Gulf War in 1991 in knocking out Scud missiles fired from Iraq.
On Monday Defence Secretary Ajai Vikram Singh sought to downplay the US team's visit. "The present meeting is part of the ongoing meetings of the Indo-US Strategic Cooperation Group," he said. He, however, admitted that the US had been making various offers over the years.
Present with Singh at the press meeting were many bureaucrats, including M Natarajan, scientific adviser to the defence minister and defence research and development secretary.
Asked about the status of India's efforts to build its own AMD systems, Natarajan said tests carried out so far were successful. "We carried out a test today, too, and these tests were successful." But Akash (the surface-to-air missile that was tested) will be evaluated only at the end of the year, he added.
Natarajan further said the development of strategic systems, that is long-range missiles such as Agni III, too, was proceeding and more tests would be carried out in the months to come.
He said the current review of the arms and equipment acquisition process was in its final stages. Singh said the review procedure had not been mandated by Parliament but was an exercise to learn from the ministry's earlier experiences and speed up the process.
Ever since the Bofors scandal rocked India in the late 1980s, which contributed to the defeat of the Rajiv Gandhi government in 1989, subsequent governments have been extremely sensitive to charges of corruption in defence purchases.
A fallout of this excessive political concern is that defence purchases have become extremely slow, something that the armed forces have complained about, saying such delays harm their planning and preparations.
In another development, the Ministry of Defence has added a new division, the Department of Ex-Servicemen Benefit. This department will ensure that retired soldiers get proper jobs in the civilian world and that those physically disabled in action, too, are properly employed.
It will also ensure that war widows receive pensions without hassles.
General J J Singh, when he took over as chief of army staff, had promised to look into the welfare of retired soldiers and army widows so that they didn't have to struggle once they move out of cantonments.
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