 "Has Stryker deal stalled amid India-Canada row?")
Is the Stryker deal between India and Canada on hold?
According to a report in the Economic Times, doubts have emerged over the Indian Army’s plan to procure the armoured vehicles as relations between the two countries have nosedived.
The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) on Thursday slammed Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
Trudeau on Wednesday, testifying before a Commission of Inquiry, acknowledged that he had only intelligence and no “hard evidentiary proof” when he alleged the involvement of Indian government agents in the killing of Khalistani separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar last year.
“What we have heard today only confirms what we have been saying consistently all along — Canada has presented us no evidence whatsoever in support of the serious allegations that it has chosen to level against India and Indian diplomats,” MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said in a statement.
But what do we know about the Stryker? And what about the deal? Is it really on hold?
Let’s take a closer look:
What do we know about the Stryker?
The Stryker is an eight-wheeled, armoured combat vehicle.
Made by General Dynamics Land Systems-Canada, it is mainly used by the US Army.
It is manufactured in Canada’s Ontario.
As per Military.com, the machine was named after two Medal of Honour recipients – Stuart S Stryker, who served in World War II, and Robert F Stryker, who served in Vietnam.
First deployed in 2003, the Stryker is largely based on Canada’s LAV III, as per Britannica.
It weighs 18 tons, is manned by two men and can carry 9 soldiers.
It also comes with an M2 .50-inch heavy machine gun or a 40-mm automatic grenade launcher in a remotely operated turret.
According to Military.com, the Caterpillar runs on a C7 350 horsepower engine.
It has a range of 482 kilometres. Its top speed is 99 kilometres per hour.
The Stryker has seen combat in both Iraq and Afghanistan.
It can give an army up to 10 different vehicles on a common chassis.
Its two basic variants are the Infantry Carrier Vehicle (ICV) and the Mobile Gun System (MGS).
The other variants include Mortar Carrier (MC), Reconnaissance Vehicle (RV), Commanders Vehicle (CV), Fire Support Vehicle (FSV), Medical Evacuation Vehicle (MEV), Engineer Squad Vehicle (ESV), Anti-tank Guided Missile Vehicle (ATGM), and NBC Reconnaissance Vehicle (NBCRV).
It has been built to provide manoeuvrability in close and urban terrain and offer protection in open terrain, as per Military.com.
The vehicle is capable of being transport by aircraft such as the C130 Hercules, has integral all around armour protection from 14.5mm projectiles and 152mm artillery airburst protection – which is upgradeable to Rocket Propelled Grenade (RPG) protection and addon armour.
It is also deploy itself and recover itself, has a lower acoustic signature and can breach walls and bust bunkers.
As per Eurasian Times, the Styker has bolt-on ceramic armour which provides enhanced protection.
It can withstand improvised explosive devices and is compatible with the Indian Army’s Chinook helicopters.
What about the deal?
The Economic Times quoted an unnamed senior US officials as saying that the talks ‘were progressing.’
However, with the India-Canada relations hitting a low, it seems like the deal is on pause.
Some experts have urged the government to focus on Indian defence firms.
The homegrown Wheeled Armoured Platform (WhAP), for example, jointly developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and Tata Advanced Systems Limited, is thought to be the most advanced armoured infantry combat vehicle programme in India, as per WION.
Shiv Aroor, a senior Indian defence journalist, told Eurasian Times, “(It is) wasteful co-production of capability already with firms like Tata, Mahindra, Kalyani, etc. Stryker ecosystem is in Canada, why should GOI (Government of India) benefit Canada.” He added: “It is a waste of ‘credits’ under India-US DTTI (Defence Technology and Trade Initiative).”
As per The Print, the Indian Army was looking to buy around 530 Stryker vehicles.
It was looking to have the vehicle’s performance tested both in deserts and in the high-altitude of Ladakh.
India’s National Security Adviser Ajit Doval had discussed the Stryker with his US counterpart Jake Sullivan in June.
The Stryker was part of the key projects the two countries had decided on in their US-India Critical and Emerging Technologies (iCET) initiative – which was announced between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Joe Biden in May 2022.
Sources said Washington was keen on the iCET because it saw it as an opportunity to reduce New Delhi’s dependence on Moscow in the realm of defence.
Sources in July told the outlet that the discussion was “at an advanced stage”.
New Delhi was eyeing replacing Russian-origin BMP-2 vehicles.
However, sources also told the outlet that the vehicle would have to be modified to work at high altitudes like eastern Ladakh.
They also pointed to the fact that the Stryker is not an amphibious vehicle. Each vehicle would have to be made terrain- and weather- specific, they added.
India strongly rejects Canada’s claims
India strongly rejected attempts by the Canadian authorities to link Indian agents with criminal gangs in Canada with official sources in New Delhi even saying that Ottawa’s assertion that it shared evidence with New Delhi in the Nijjar case was simply not true.
Sources in New Delhi also rejected Trudeau’s previous allegations that India was engaging in activities, including carrying out covert operations targeting Canadian nationals in his country.
India earlier on Monday expelled six Canadian diplomats and also announced withdrawing its high commissioner from Canada after dismissing Ottawa’s allegations linking the envoy to a probe into the killing of Nijjar.
The escalation in diplomtic row between India and Canada is a major downturn in already frosty ties between the two nations.
The relations between the two countries came under severe strain following Trudeau’s allegations in September last year of a “potential” involvement of Indian agents in Nijjar’s killing.
New Delhi rejected Trudeau’s charges as “absurd”.
India has been maintaining that the main issue between the two countries is that of Canada giving space to pro-Khalistan elements operating from Canadian soil with impunity.
Nijjar, who was declared a terrorist by India, was shot dead outside a gurdwara in Surrey, British Columbia, on June 18 last year_._
With inputs from agencies
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