NEWS

Even though it has not officially collapsed, the stalled Indo-US nuclear deal has apparently begun doing collateral damage to the relationship between the two countries. In June 2008, Prime Minister Manmohan was due to get an Air Force One of his own—a Boeing Business Jet equipped with a Rs 202-crore ($50.2 million) Special Protection Suite (SPS) to ward off attacks by shoulder-held heat-seeking missiles. But now, a month before the first of the three aircraft costing Rs 735 crore ($183.75 million) were scheduled to arrive, and three years after the deal was inked, the US has placed restrictions on the export of the system. This not only threatens to delay supply of the aircraft, but has the potential to call into question the entire deal if not other acquisitions from the US.

VIEWS

Barely a month before the first of the three specially fitted Boeing Business Jets (BBJ) is to join the Indian Air Force’s VIP Communication Squadron—responsible for ferrying the nation’s highest dignitaries, including the Prime Minister—the above media report must have come as a rude shock to the mandarins of both the External Affairs and Defence wings of the South Block. Notwithstanding that a similar report also appeared in the Pakistani press, albeit a day later, one can’t help wondering at the veracity of the report. In any case, linking the issue to the seemingly failing Indo-US nuclear deal appears to be carrying the rhetoric a bit too far.

Inked in 2005, the BBJ deal is purely a commercial contract. Coincidentally—contrary to premeditated, as some would like to speculate—the Indo-US agreement on cooperation in India’s civilian nuclear programme was also signed in the same year, on July 17. The BBJ order was for three specially equipped Boeing 737-800 complete with an airborne office incorporating stateof- the-art amenities, personal communication lines, a personal bed room and an executive office akin to the facilities provided in the US Air Force One that flies the President of the United States of America. Decision to include the SPS appears to have been taken subsequently but it is clear that its inclusion was agreed to by the US as the Boeing company reportedly charged, over and above the systems and fitment costs, an additional sum of money for having to dismantle and remodel some of the interiors to install the SPS system.