AFTER months of whispers and selective leaks, mainly by the US side, it is now clear that a deal has been reached by the US and India for the acquisition by the latter of a large number of Stryker wheeled infantry combat vehicle (ICV). The deal has intrigued many observers because of the long history of the Indian army’s desire to induct a modern AFV to replace its ageing Russian-made tracked BMP-II AFVs, leading to a decision by the ministry of defence and DRDO to develop and manufacture ICVs indigenously.  This programme had met with considerable success, which now faces an uncertain future. The Stryker deal also points to another disturbing trend, not noted by many commentators, namely that the US-India defence and high-technology collaboration and “partnership,” supposedly focused on co-development and research, is becoming increasingly transactional, involving outright sales of US military hardware sometimes with manufacture in India.

The US and India signed a roadmap for US-India Defence Industrial Partnership in June 2023 which cements an inter-governmental relationship that has enabled a significant push to US-India military hardware trade which has accelerated to US$22 billion since 2007. Sales of US military equipment, projected as transfer of high-end defence technologies to India or co-development which they are not in most cases, have pushed to the margins earlier agreements on cooperation in advanced technologies such as the Defence Technology and trade Initiative (DTII) and the ICET or US-India Initiative on Critical and Emerging Technologies. The former is fading away, and the latter is yet to yield any tangible results after a fair amount of talking. However, both provide cloud cover for growing off-the-shelf US military sales to India. Earlier Indian purchases of US systems were mostly of relatively small quantities of niche hardware the armed forces required for their modernisation programme, such as Apache attack helicopters, Chinook heavy-lift helicopters, or P8 maritime reconnaissance and anti-submarine aircraft, the recent crop of deals involve sizeable quantities of each type of equipment, making assembly or manufacture in India feasible, shutting out indigenous options. 

UNDER THE HIGH-TECH CLOAK        

In keeping with this trend, the impending deal for sale of Stryker was initially mooted during talks between the US and Indian national security advisors in Delhi in February 2023 to launch the iCET programme which had been announced the previous year. The deal was obliquely referred to in the statement issued after the 2+2 strategic dialogue between the defence and foreign ministers of the US and India in November 2023, and a statement by the US after bilateral industry interactions led by the US national security advisor as part of the ICET Programme.

The same methodology has been followed on several other deals, such as for sale and manufacture in India of the General Electric GE-414 engines for the later variants of the indigenous Tejas fighter aircraft, and the perennially soon-to-be-delivered armed RQ9 Reaper/Guardian drones, thus keeping the pot boiling and making for (repetitive) headlines about big-ticket US-India deals.  Whereas these deals may indeed require ironing out of many details, these tactics by the US have kept India on the hook, unable to look at other options and prolonging dependence on the US, which can then extract the most favourable terms either in terms of money or “technology transfer” which the US has never been known to do.  

STRYKER ICV

The Stryker ICV is not that contemporary and does not involve much advanced technology either.  None of this takes away from the fact that the Stryker is generally viewed as among the most effective armoured vehicles in the world.

The Stryker  ICV is an uprated and improved version of General Dynamics  Land Systems (GDLS) Canada’s LAV3 8x8 wheeled armoured vehicle which itself is derived from the Piranha system of Spain’s Mowag, which is now part of GDLS Europe. The vehicle has eight wheels and can operate in the 4x8 mode or the 8x8 mode. The vehicle requires two operators and can carry another nine soldiers. The Stryker has been operational with the US army since 2001, and was the first new armoured vehicle inducted into the US army since the Abrams tank in the 1980s. Production ceased in 2014.

More than 4500 Strykers are in service with the US military, are battle-hardened and have seen active duty in Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria and currently in Ukraine. Many military experts believe the Strykers are best suited to urban warfare, but its maneuverability, speed, and survivability in different terrains have been attested to. However, the Strykers have suffered several losses in Ukraine, especially in the early phases in the conflict, when the mode of its deployment has been criticised.

The Stryker is a 25 ton wheeled vehicle which assists in speed and maneuverability. However, vehicles with tracks such as the Russian made BMP-1 and BMP-2 with the Indian army can handle rougher terrain. The Strykers can, if required and with some modifications, be transported by C-130 transport aircraft although they have not obtained certification for this mode in the US army. However, the Indian army demonstrated air-dropping of Strykers using Chinook helicopters during US-India joint exercises some time back. A major disadvantage of the Stryker is that it is not amphibious, unlike the BMPs.

The Strykers usually come with the 350 horse-power Caterpillar C7 engine. For India, it is likely that this engine would be replaced with the 750 horse-power Advanced Combat Engine by Cummins, seen as necessary in the thin air at high altitudes in Ladakh and Sikkim where a substantial number are likely to be deployed.

Many details remain to be worked out. It is believed that around 530 Stryker ICVs, presumably in several variants, would be acquired. Perhaps 40 or so may be bought outright for initial deployment, with the rest being manufactured in India under license with several modifications and customizations built-in for compatibility with the widely varying conditions in India and with desired armaments and communication systems. The cost and the Indian manufacturing partner(s) are yet to be decided.

BLOW TO SELF-RELIANCE  

Many defence and industry commentators, as well as retired military officers, have expressed dismay at the Stryker deal as dealing a major blow on concerted efforts, against many odds, to develop self-reliant technology and manufacturing capabilities. Arguments favouring off-the-shelf acquisition of proven and battle-tested equipment due to urgent requirements and exigencies will always have some validity, but by that token no self-reliant capability will ever be developed. Despite the many efforts being made towards indigenous design-development and manufacture, strong headwinds remain. This seems to be especially true of US hardware, increasingly favoured by the powers that be in India. The emerging pattern seems to be of large orders for US equipment, including license manufacture in India which the US has come to accept as a reality for cornering a large part of the Indian defence market, which shuts out any need or incentive for indigenous efforts.

The huge impact on self-reliance may be gauged from the fact that, more than a decade ago, the ministry of defence had approved and supported a major indigenous development effort for wheeled armoured vehicles. Under guidance of the DRDO’s Vehicle Research & Development Establishment (VRDE), Tata Advanced Systems and Mahindra were contracted for the purpose. Tata pulled off a surprise by developing a platform called Kestrel in just 18 months and displaying it at DefExpo 2014. This was further developed by 2018 as the Wheeled Amphibious Armoured Platform (WhAP) to meet additional quality requirements of the army. In DefExpo 2020, the VRDE displayed a further uprated version made with the help of the Mahindra Group. The WhAP has since successfully undergone user trials and several numbers have been inducted into the army as well as CRPF.

What will now happen to all this effort and the products developed? It is hard to imagine that the further development and manufacture of these ICVs in an indigenous defence industry will continue apace when the main user, the Indian army, is fully equipped with many hundreds of Stryker ICVs.  This is the tragic outcome of the US-India Stryker deal.