After India and the US signed an Industrial Security Annex (ISA) during the second 2+2 dialogue between India's foreign and defence ministers and the US Secretary of State and Secretary of Defense in Washington, a US State Department official suggested that India purchase American weapons systems rather than Russia’s S-400.
A senior State Department official said: “The S-400 has been a longstanding issue. India’s very well aware of the concerns we have both over – our concerns related to Russia and encouraging Russia’s behaviour, but also our concerns over our ability to achieve the inter-operability that we seek with India.”
At a time when New Delhi and Washington had also finalised three agreements under the Defence Technology and Trade Initiative, aimed to enhance ability to co-produce and co-develop critical technologies, the official added, “at a certain point in time, there is a strategic choice that needs to be made about platforms and systems, and our – certainly, we are encouraging India to look at our platforms and our systems as the most efficacious as it’s facing challenges in the Indo-Pacific region.”
India had also signed two US foundational agreements – the Logistics Exchange Memorandum of Agreement (LEMOA) and the Communications Compatibility and Security Agreement (COMCASA) – in 2016 and 2018, respectively.
Russia will fulfil its contract to deliver S-400 missile systems to India in 2025 as it has already received the first advance payment, Rostec State Corporation CEO Sergey Chemezov said in November 2019.
