US proposes to sell THAAD to India as alternative to S-400s
WASHINGTON: The US has offered Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) and Patriot Advance Capability (PAC-3) missile defence systems to India as an alternative to Russian S-400s, a competing equipment that India has said it is close to acquiring after years of negotiations.
The Trump administration is understood to have made the offer some weeks ago as it simultaneously extended and reeled back assurances that India’s purchase of the Russian system could not, or could, attract sanctions aimed at punishing Russia for its 2016 election meddling under Countering American Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA).
US officials are believed to have conveyed US willingness to waive these sanctions for S-400s during the 2+2 meeting in New Delhi last September between defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman and external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj and their US counterparts. But there appears to have been some walking back in recent weeks, coinciding with the Trump administration’s efforts to prevent Turkey from going ahead with plans of buying S-400s. Saudi Arabia is next.
The cost of a THAAD system could not be ascertained. But according to a CNBC report, each unit can cost an estimated $3 billion. Saudi Arabia signed a deal with the US in November to buy 44 THAAD launchers and missiles - each battery comes with six launchers - for $15 billion. India is reported to be paying $5.4 billion for five S-400s, each of which includes eight launchers.
The exact date of the offer of the THAAD and PAC-3 systems to India could not be ascertained, but the offer was confirmed by multiple government agencies and people close to these discussions.
“As a matter of policy, we do not publicly comment on or confirm proposed defence sales or transfers until they have been formally notified to Congress,” said a US state department spokesperson in response to a request to confirm or deny if a formal offer had been made. It was not denied, as is clear. The US state department is the clearing house for government-to-government transfer of US defence equipment to foreign countries.
Though India has felt confident of getting a CAATSA waiver, Indian officials have also sensed a walking back on it in recent months, drawing upon US insistence that the waiver authority written into law by the Congress in 2018 empowered the president to grant waivers and didn’t offer country-specific guarantees.