Article Posted on : - Nov 05, 2009

WASHINGTON (PTI): Moving itself from an era of "non-aligned" to "poly-alignment" India has emerged as a regional military power and is inching towards becoming a global one, a US military think-tank has said.

The paper "India's Strategic Defense Transformation: Expanding Global Relationship" by Brian Hedrick of Strategic Studies Institute (SSI) of US Army Department of Defense, released on Wednesday, takes a global view of India's rise as a regional and future global military power.

"India's defense establishment is undergoing an unprecedented transformation as it modernises its military, seeks strategic partnerships with the United States and other nations, and expands its influence in the Indian Ocean and beyond," writes Douglas Lovelace, Director SSI.

"This transformation includes a shift from an emphasis on the former Soviet Union as the primary supplier of defense articles to a western base of supply and an increasing emphasis on bilateral exercises and training with many of the global powers," he said.

Military Advisor to the Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia at the State Department, Hedrick, who has served earlier in the US missions in India and Bangladesh, said that India's interests have changed over the past decade or more, taking it from a path of nonalignment and non-commitment to having specific strategic interests on a path of "poly-alignment".