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India, U.S. wrap up missile defense talks Defense policy officials from the U.S. and India have wrapped up two days of talks about U.S. missile defense plans and about the possibility of Israel selling its Arrow anti-missile system to India. Defense ministry officials here said India faces missile and nuclear threats from Pakistan and China and requires a missile defense system. The U.S. has not decided whether to allow Israel to export the Arrow system to India. The Arrow was jointly developed by the U.S. and Israel, and its sale would require approval from Washington. Some Bush Administration officials and lawmakers have said the sale could harm anti-proliferation efforts, while others have said it would bolster U.S.-India relations (DAILY, July 30, Aug. 13, 2002). The Jan. 15-16 talks were headed by Sheel Kant Sharma, the joint secretary
for disarmament in the Indian Ministry of External Affairs, and David
Trachtenberg, the principal deputy assistant secretary of defense for India wants six to eight anti-missile systems, although defense officials here privately say the country will be hard pressed to pay $3 billion to $ 5 billion for the systems. Indian scientists are seeking other missile defense systems, even vintage ones, to try to re-engineer them to bolster the country's efforts to develop an indigenous missile defense system. Shreedhar Rao, a defense analyst based here, told The DAILY that "
India needs effective anti-ballistic missile systems to [get] an edge
over ...Pakistan." |