Whom does the US sanctions hurt ?

The assurance of Mr Panetta seems to be no different from similar assurances made earlier by other visiting US dignitaries, which unfortunately have failed to assume any practical shape or form. During his 2010 visit to India, the US President Barack Obama stated that the dual use rules by which many of the Indian organisations were denied access to US high technology services and hardware would be amended and updated. Following President Obama’s statement the US Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) announced the removal of nine Indian space and defence related organisations from the Entity List. Following the 1998 twin Pokhran nuclear blasts, US had imposed sanctions on a number of Indian space, defence and strategic organisations including Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and DRDO. 

 

At the ground level the reality seems to be altogether different. As stated by Dr VK Saraswat, the DRDO chief, the successful development of advanced Indian missiles have made mincemeat of US’ technology denial regime. For instance, the Agni-V missile that made its debut flight in April of this year, featured many of the home-grown high-tech systems including ring laser gyro based inertial navigation system, high speed on-board computers, light weight composite materials and sophisticated software packages. In late 1990s US had exerted tremendous pressure on India to drop its programme to develop the nuclear capable Agni-II intermediate range ballistic missile. The overwhelming view in Washington at that time was that Agni-II project derived heavily from the technologies developed for India’s first solid fuel driven launch vehicle SLV-3 that had its maiden flight in 1980. Dr Saraswat believes that the technology embargo have nudged India to develop many critical products hitherto imported, thereby implying that US industry is the net loser to that extent of the sanctions regime.

 

Dr Saraswat of DRDO points out that the lifting of US sanctions had remained only on paper and its impact was not even 10 percent in terms of implementation of new Indian technology.  Tejas, India’s fourth generation fighter aircraft, which is now winging its way towards final operational clearance, is the star example of how India’s home-grown technology led to a successful high tech defence project based on home-grown technology despite stiff US sanctions . This state of the art fighter aircraft with the fly by wire system has its control laws developed in India. The flight control laws are the preserve of only a handful of advanced countries that are not willing to share their expertise in this crucial area with other nations. Thus, the design and development of flight control laws for a high performance, unstable aircraft like Tejas was one of the most significant achievements of the Bangalore based Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA) which was set up by DRDO to facilitate development of Tejas.   

 

Mr PS Subramanyam, Director of ADA stated that the 1998 US sanctions were the best thing that could have happened to India’s scientific and  technological efforts as its spurred Indian scientists and engineers  to develop many of the critical and classified  technologies and systems themselves. He also noted that “When BAE Systems’ officials inspected Tejas, they were amazed by its latest configuration and its completely indigenous design.” 

 

In 1992 ISRO was at receiving end of the US technology sanctions for alleged violation of the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR). In this context, USA had managed to coerce an economically emaciated and politically turbulent Russia, to drop its commitment of transferring the cryogenic engine technology to India on the grounds that the dual use aspect of cryogenic technology could be exploitation in the military sector by India. Following US pressure, Russian space agency Glavkosmos which had entered in an agreement with ISRO for the transfer of cryogenic engine technology, watered down the deal to supply seven cryogenic engines to India without any technology transfer. Despite such sanctions, ISRO has designed and developed a cryogenic engine constituting the upper stage of the three stages GSLV (Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle). The flight of GSLV with home-grown cryogenic engine stage is slated for the second half of 2012. The successful realization of GSLV would imply triumph of home grown technology in face of US sanctions. In the aftermath of US sanctions, ISRO developed many of the complex technological systems for satellites and launch vehicles with indigenous efforts. For instance, for India’s manned space flight programme slated for launch in 2016, ISRO has decided to exploit Indian expertise to develop the space suit for the use of astronauts. The space suit technology is a closely guarded secret of a handful of space-faring nations. Thus, for India’s strategic sectors, US sanctions have proven to be a blessing in disguise.

 

The US export regulation that disallows the launch of a commercial satellite built in USA and also the use of satellite carrying US made components by countries like India and China has significantly contributed to the dwindling fortunes of US satellite building enterprises. It is a known fact that Indian and Chinese space vehicles are more cost effective as compared to their US and European counterparts for delivering payloads in space. In conclusion, the US trade sanctions and export restrictions have hit the American industry more than the countries it was aimed at. A clear indication of the declining prospects of the American space industry can be seen from the fact that its share of commercial satellite production has plummeted from more than 80 percent in the early 1990s to the present-day share of 50 percent.

 

Radhakrishna Rao is a freelancer specializing in defence and aerospace issues