US commerce secretary eyes military, nuclear deals in India

Washington: US commerce secretary Gary Locke expects to press India to opt for US fighter jets and other advanced technology products when he leads some 24 US companies on a trade mission next week.

The two dozen US companies, include aerospace and defence contractors, Boeing, Lockheed Martin and nuclear equipment suppliers GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy, Westinghouse Electric Company, a division of Toshiba Corp, Transco Products, NuScale Power and Exelon Nuclear Partners.

These latter companies hope to garner a share of the vast civil nuclear market in India riding on the back of a landmark US-India civil nuclear deal signed in 2008.

Boeing and Lockheed Martin have already acquired a toehold in the Indian market with impressive deals for maritime reconnaissance aircraft and military transport carriers respectively.

The trade mission will hope to capitalize on some goodwill that may have been generated by the announcement that the United States was easing restrictions on exports of high-technology goods to India. The US has tried to reverse decades of hostility between the two nations with a string of high-profile initiatives in the civil and defence sectors.

"That export control announcement has really opened the door for increased high-technology trade and cooperation between the United States and India. The purpose of our trade mission ... is to take advantage of that open door," Locke said.