Aerospace Diary

Neelam Mathews July 23, 2012 Following U.S Secretary Panetta’s visit to   India   in June , visiting Deputy Defense Secretary Ashton Carter said Ballistic Missile Defense was an “important  potential area for cooperation (between India and the US ). It has great strategic importance …the two governments should discuss strategic before technical (aspects) and I think they intend to.” Carter was speaking at a meet organized by the CII. A central tenet of the U.S new strategy is its rebalance to the Asia-Pacific region. The U.S intends to have 60 percent of its naval assets in the Pacific by 2020.  “We are developing new concepts of rotational presence, with Marines in Australia and four littoral combat ships in  Singapore as well as forward stationing in Guam .  We are investing in new platforms and technologies relevant to the region, like the new bomber, new submarine-launched conventional weapons, cyber capabilities, and a host of upgra...

Posted by- Neelam Mathews Jan 25, 2012 “Sequestration budget cuts are poised to strangle the U.S economy and devastate our military,” says Aerospace Industries Association. AIA President and CEO Marion C. Blakey released the following statement:  “The State of the Union can be measured in many ways, but first and foremost is the security of the nation. By that measure, the future of our country is unclear. The President’s Budget Request scheduled for release Feb. 13 targets defense for a $487 billion reduction over ten years.    “However, that isn’t the end. Defense faces more than five hundred billion dollars of additional cuts under a sequestration scenario driven by politics rather than security. Simply put, this will jeopardize the nation’s security, knee-cap the technological edge we’ve enjoyed for generations in aerospace and defense and risk as many as one million American jobs. As a nation, we need to put our foot down when it comes to any more defense...

Feb 2011 Neelam Mathews Indian winters usually see a spike in visiting foreign tourists and 2010 was no different, except it included four of the world’s most powerful people who came to tour, trade and transact with the world’s second fastest growing economy. An economy hungry for nuclear energy and defence technology, signifying a sign of changing times and an indication of India’s willingness to look west. New Delhi’s growing clout as an economic powerhouse that needs to be befriended saw David Cameron, the British Prime Minister, US President Barack Obama, Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev all visit New Delhi in 2010. India is now too big to ignore, hence major world leaders beating a path to India’s door for both economic and strategic reasons. The significance of these visits is that the US is increasingly engaging with India and this challenges many of the traditional relationships tha...

Defense Aviation Week & Space Technology Nov 15 , 2010 , p. 46 Neelam Mathews New Delhi Obama’s visit to India stokes agreements, but not on everything Security Pact Remains U.S.-India Sticking Point The Indian air force is exploring upgrade options for U.S. military aircraft that will be handed over without key capabilities in the absence of an agreement governing those systems. The U.S. is withholding several subsystems until India ratifies the Communication Interoperability and Security Memorandum of Agreement, which governs current and future transfers of intelligence systems to India. India is not ready to commit to the security pact and instead is willing to take slightly less capable U.S. systems initially, expecting to backfill the missing features later. The strategy will be tested when the Indian air force starts taking delivery of six Lockheed Martin C-130Js next month. They are the fir...