The Logistics Agreement signed with the United States during the visit of Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, is a first of its kind for India. By this agreement, a foreign military force, that too, the armed force of the most powerful imperialist country, will now be able to access India’s naval and air bases to service the needs of their armed forces.

The Logistics Support Agreement (LSA) is a treaty which the Untied States enters into with countries with who it has established military alliances or close military cooperation. It is modeled on the Acquisition and Cross Service Agreements (ACSA) which itself is another version of the Nato Mutual Support Act modified for US dealing with non-Nato countries. In Asia, military allies like Philippines have signed the LSA.  In South Asia, Sri Lanka has currently an LSA in place while the Pakistan LSA lapsed in 2012.

Aiding US Military Interventions

The LSA provides the legal basis for the use of the host country’s military facilities and also sets out procedures for payment for services and goods provided. The United States armed forces does not depend only on the military bases that it has around the world. It is the LSA type agreements which provide mobility for its strike forces in every part of the world.

This is an agreement which has been pursued for a long time by the United States. It falls within the ambit of the US-India Defence Framework Agreement which was renewed for another ten years in June 2015.

In order to mask the true intention of the LSA, a different terminology has been used in the case of India. The agreement signed has been termed as the Logistics Exchange Memorandum of Agreement (LEMOA).

Obfuscating Issue

The Modi government is deliberately trying to obfuscate the real import of this agreement. The United States government is also obliging India by playing along with it, even though it has achieved an important step in the coordination of the two armed forces.

The Indian ministry of defence has in a statement termed this agreement as merely a “facilitating agreement” that “would be used exclusively for authorized port visits, joint exercises, joint training and humanitarian assistance and disaster relief efforts”. The catch lies in the subsequent sentence that “logistic support for any other cooperative efforts shall only be provided on a case by case basis through prior mutual consent of the parties, consistent with their respective laws, regulations and policies”.

Both sides are pretending that this logistics cooperation is meant mainly for port visits, joint exercises, humanitarian assistance and so on. However, the United States which has a world wide network of military bases utilises the logistics support agreements with many other countries for the movement of its armed forces and its strategic assets for military operations and interventions around the world.

Having a logistics support agreement in place with India will enable the US airforce and navy to utilise Indian military facilities for refueling, providing supplies and equipment. Given the Modi government’s strategic alignment with the United States, the case by case approval for the US armed forces using Indian facilities for operations against the third country will be a formality.

Even when India did not have such an agreement with the United States, in the past there were instances of the then governments agreeing to US requests for access to Indian military facilities. The short-lived Chandrasekhar government in 1991 allowed US armed planes to refuel in Indian air bases enroute to their bombing missions in Iraq. In 2001, when the United States decide to attack Afghanistan after the September 11 terror attack, Prime Minister Vajpayee had written to President Bush offering Indian military facilities for the forthcoming American attack in Afghanistan. The United States did not take up the offer as they decided to utilise Pakistan as the main base for their military operations.

The Logistics Support Agreement will therefore not be confined to disaster and humanitarian relief operations or joint exercises. It will be used by the Pentagon for its Asia Pacific strategy not only to contain China but also to conduct military operations all across Asia including Central Asia. India has the second largest armed forces in Asia, after China, and getting access to its substantial military facilities is a big gain for the US.

Formal Military Ally

The Modi Government is thrilled to be called a “major defence partner” of the United States, a designation which was accorded during Modi’s last visit to Washington. It now wants to prove that it has earned this designation by signing the logistics agreement. With this India has acquired the formal status of a military ally of the United States. It has become part of the US-Asia Pacific strategy which was formalized during President Obama’s visit last year when the Joint Vision Statement for the Asia Pacific and Indian Ocean region was signed.

That India is willing to become a cog in the American strategy was also evident with the cementing of the trilateral security alliance between Japan, USA and India. India sent four naval warships on an exercise in the South China sea in June this year which signaled its convergence with the US and Japanese moves against China.

Parrikar has said that the critics of the agreement are deliberately confusing it with providing basing facilities. We all know that the LSA is not about establishing US bases in India but about the US armed forces using Indian military bases. As for its being reciprocal, in that the Indian armed forces can also use American military facilities, anyone with a modicum of common sense would know that the Indian navy is not going to use the US naval bases in San Diego, Guam, or Okinawa for any worthwhile military operations

The next step for the Modi government will be to sign the other so called foundational agreements, the Communication and Information Security Memorandum of Agreement (CISMOA) and Basic Exchange and Cooperation Agreement (BECA). Now that the US has become the major supplier of arms and defence equipment, India will now be obliged to sign these two agreements in the name of acquiring defence technology. When these two agreements are signed then the Defence Framework Agreement will have been fully fleshed out.

Earlier in 2009, the End User Agreement had been signed during the UPA government. Under this agreement US inspectors are allowed access to the arms and equipment bought by India to see if they are being utilised in the manner prescribed. Now with the LEMOA in place, US armed forces personnel will be stationed in designated Indian military facilities. Without this, the refueling, supplies, maintenance and repairs cannot be undertaken.

Sovereignty Compromised

The signing of the Logistics Agreement by the Modi government has compromised Indian sovereignty which has been safeguarded all these years by India refusing to become part of any military alliance. It has also surrendered strategic autonomy which is the bedrock for defending national interests.

That India’s foreign policy and strategic outlook is going through a complete turnaround is evident also from the decision of Prime Minister Modi not to attend the Non Aligned summit in Caracas, Venezuela, being held in the third week of September. Apart from Charan Singh who headed a caretaker government for six months, he is the first Indian Prime Minister not to attend a Non Aligned summit. The message is clear: India is not non-aligned, it has become a subordinate ally of the United States.