US holds India's military modernisation in high regard: Pentagon

WASHINGTON: The offer of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter to India is an example that US holds India's military modernisation in high regard, a top Pentagon official has said.
"What's clear is that the F-35 is something that we would be more than willing to talk to the government of India about should they request to find out more information about purchasing," Deputy assistant secretary of defense for South and Southeast Asia, Robert Scher said.
"We have made no assertions or promises, and we have not received any request for this," he said.
"But certainly it's an example of the high regard that we hold India's military modernisation, what we think they can usefully potentially use and looking at technology exchange, that we could be able to proceed on," he said.
The Pentagon in a report on Tuesday had informed the US Congress that it was willing to offer the world's most advanced flying machine F-35 to India if it expressed interest in this regard.
Though it is for India to decide on its military modernisation program, but the US is ready to offer the best of its technology to it, Scher said.
"That's obviously for the government of India to decide and we look forward to be able to offer some of our best technology, some of our best equipment to fulfill their needs," he said.
"Certainly, we believe that the two entries for the MRCA competition were the best air planes available, the most proven technology to deal with India's express needs. We certainly would have liked for them to have continued to be in the competition. That was not the decision and we certainly respect that," Scher said.