THE world's arms bazaar Is heating up with new exports. Billions of dollars are pouring into the coffers of American armament manufacturers.

According to a recent survey made by American newspapers. new contracts are being signed with Saudi Arabia. Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and a number of Southeast Asian countries for the supply of high-technology items, aircraft missiles and radar systems.

In a world of Industrial recession. the brisk sales are tonic to the United States industry.

Real bargains are expected as the British and the French are equally determined to sell their hardware to eager Arabs.

Hotels are full In Jeddah. Riyadh. Dubai. Abu Dhabi with top-flight sales personnel from British. American. French and other European firms trying to make a quick buck In the arms bazaar. One analyst has noted that everything Is being sold from Jet fighters to binoculars. Some of the arms are available even in local supermarkets.

A new boom market has emerged from the Gulf to East Asia for the international arms pedlars although according to the International Peace Research Institute, world military spending has fallen sharply by 15 per cent In 1992.

The eastern bloc which used to account for about 30 per cent of the world defence's expenditure, is a shadow of its former self with the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) halving their defence spending.

Resource-strapped Russia leads the pack, cutting down procurement of new weapons by 80 per cent.

The North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO), as a result of the demise of the Warsaw Pact countries, has effected a nearly 50 per cent reduction . in its conventional arms. This led to a further cut in arms demand.

The US government earlier banned the sale of air-borne warning and control system (AWACS) planes to India because of trouble with Pakistan.

But now defence sources say that, in a major tum-about of their sales policy, two US

companies are willing to sell electronic warfare systems to India.

Earlier, the US defence department warned India that if New Delhi developed Its own AWACS system. American firms will sell AWACS planes to Pakistan.

Some Western diplomats saw in this move American desire to balance the military might of India with Pakistan. They called it the balance of terror in the Indian subcontinent.

Western defence experts have noted the rapid modernisation of Pakistan's armed forces under new Pakistan Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto.

Says one senior expert: "Comparatively. India has almost three to one superiority over Pakistan's military might. But something has gone wrong somewhere. The economic crisis has triggered off cuts in New Delhi's defence budget."

Defence experts have noted that Pakistan has strengthened and acquired a new weapon system. Pakistan's recent military acquisitions from China reportedly include the high-range surface-to-surface missiles.

India's defence ministry thinks the idea behind China's selling of arms to neighbours is to limit India's Influence in the region in the long run.

Offering a comparative assessment. India's finance ministry has pointed out that .Pakistan is spending seven per cent of its gross domestic product on defence against India's 2.5 per cent.

Pakistan has acquired about 300 tanks from China, and is trying to improve further its position by looking to the United Kingdom. France and other countries. It has even increased its anti-tank capability with anti-tank missiles from China.

Defence analysts here are getting apprehensive over the tense situation in India's borders with Pakistan and Bangladesh.

Now Prime Minister Narasimha Rao declares that defence will have the highest priority. So experts are working on buying better and more sophisticated arms for the Army. Air Force and the Navy. With more than one million men in uniform. New Delhi has

the third largest army and the fourth largest air force In the world.

According to Air Commodore Jasjit Singh, director of the Institute for Defence Studies and Analysis: "The Cold War has ended but It has not changed the fundamental assumptions of global security. The peace dividend is yet to come, although the defence budget has started coming down.”

In an apparent reversal of policy, the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), based in Bangalore, decided to revive the airborne surveillance platform (ASP) project because of the growing threat from neighbouring countries. There was also mounting pressure from the Indian Air Force and the Navy.

Chiefs of the Air Force and the Navy have gone on record in the recent past stating that AWACS will vastly improve India's air defence and attack capability.

The ASP project will also get 1.000 million rupees (US$32 million) over the next five to six years for the design and testing of ten prototypes. A sum of 600 million rupees (US$19 million) has already been spent on the- project since 1984. It has led to the development of key sub-systems and hardware components.

While no formal effort has been made to get foreign suppliers, French and Israeli companies, besides the US firms — Texas Instruments and Hughes Aircraft Systems — have evinced interest In providing technology for the Indian ASP.

The ASP will have the capability to track 55 targets over a 200-kilometre radius, compared with 200 targets over 400 km radius for the American AWACS E-2 Hawkeye.

In ’ a related development, the Americans announced a further change In policy in the annual report of the US Department of Defence.

Ironically, it was the defence department which had exercised restricted control over selling sensitive technologies to foreign countries.

Now. under mounting pressure from the US arms industry. the defence department has supported the call for liberalisation of American technology exports.

The Pentagon now says that American security would not be Impaired by the removal of controls on some widely available technologies. It adds that the US policy must alm at prevention of the proliferation of

mass-destruction weapons.

According to reports reaching the Indian government, the US commerce department has been strongly backing the demand for liberalisation of technology exports.

The same argument had been advanced by the powerful Aerospace Industries Association (AIA) of America that brings together the most Important American civil and military aerospace companies.

It noted that controls have been costly to the US Industry. Restrictions have seldom prevented the target countries from receiving the goods and technologies they sought.

The assessment is that the US administration should instead devote Its energies to preventing the diffusion of chokepokit technologies that are critical for the manufacture of mass destruction weapons.

- Depthnews Asia.