29.4.11

US Ambassador to India quits

US Ambassador to India Timothy J Roemer stepped down on Thursday citing “personal, professional and family considerations”, a day after India eliminated American companies from the race for a $10-billion contract to supply 126 fighter jets for the Indian Air Force. While there was speculation that he would departure if the US companies were eliminated from the Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) bid, Roemer had recently indicated to colleagues that he would be stepping down after two years as envoy to India. Roemer said US companies losing out in the MMRCA deal was “deeply disappointing”. Rafale, built by France's Dassault, and the Eurofighter Typhoon, built by a pan-European consortium, were shortlisted by the Defence Ministry to supply fighter aircraft for the Indian Air Force. The two companies were told to keep their commercial bids open till December 31, while America's Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Sweden's Saab, and Russia's Migoyan, the makers of MIG, were told that their aircraft were no longer in contention. The contract was seen as a major reciprocal plank in the Indo-US relations that have strengthened in recent years beyond most expectations. President Barack Obama's celebrated November visit to India had the unmistakable undercurrent of expectation that the fighter jet deal, the biggest such open contract in 15 years, would go to one of the two American companies — Lockheed Martin and Boeing — in the fray. Obama had written to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh after the visit, underlining the importance of the contract to the strategic relationship between the two countries. “In the spirit of this friendship, I want to underscore the strategic importance the United States attaches to the selection of a US proposal in India's Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft competition… The selection of a US proposal for the MMRCA tender will strengthen our partnership, launch our defence cooperation on an ambitious and rewarding trajectory, and provide strategic continuity to our growing relationship,” he had written. Back from the successful visit to India, which saw deals worth some $10 billion being signed, Obama had talked up the number of jobs that would be created in the US thanks to the deals with India. The massive fighter jet deal was surely part of this calculation. “When I accepted this job two years ago, I told President Obama that I would serve for two years but that family considerations would be front and centre after that,” Roemer said in a statement announcing his departure. Roemer, 55, succeeded David Mulford as US ambassador in New Delhi on July 10, 2009. In his departing statement, Roemer mentioned the sale of C130J aircraft and the pending sale of C-17s to India as an achievement of his tenure, but did not comment about the MMRCA race, which originally had six contenders.

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