Weinberger Talks With Gandhi, Says India Can Buy U.S. Arms

Defense Secretary Caspar W. Weinberger said Saturday that the United States is ready to sell weapons to India. He accused Moscow, New Delhi’s main arms supplier, of exerting influence on countries that get Soviet military aid.

He made the comments at a news conference after two hours of what he called “fine discussions” with Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi on the opening day of his four-day visit to India.

Weinberger met with Gandhi--who also serves as India’s defense minister--after arriving aboard a U.S. Air Force jet from China. He is on a world tour that is to take him to Pakistan on Tuesday.

U.S. diplomats said that his visit to India--the first by a Pentagon chief--points to steady improvement in relations in the two years since Gandhi took office.

Pakistan Issue Addressed

Weinberger said that the talks addressed Gandhi’s concerns about the United States supplying arms to India’s neighbor and archrival, Pakistan. He said he told Gandhi that the military aid was meant to counter the threat posed by the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan.

Weinberger reiterated the Reagan Administration’s belief that “we can have a very good friendship and a very good relationship” with both India and Pakistan, which have fought three wars since they became independent from Britain in 1947.

He would not say whether he discussed specific arms deals with Gandhi, but he added, “I think we made evident many times before our feeling that we can be helpful with weapons systems if India wants to . . . take advantage.” Such systems might involve the production of American-designed hardware in India.

As to whether he had expressed disapproval of India’s reliance on arms from the Soviet Union, its main supplier since the 1960s, Weinberger said: “I think each country pretty much has to do what it wants to do.”

‘More Than Owner’s Manual’

He added, however, that “reliance on the Soviet Union brings a lot more than an owner’s manual. It brings influence.”

Weinberger said he and Gandhi also discussed the Reagan Administration’s arms policies, of which India has been openly critical.

He indicated that agreement has yet to be reached on Indian purchases of U.S. military technology. Concern that sensitive equipment might fall into Soviet hands has held up sales of American weapons systems to India.

He said, however, that “a great deal of progress” had been made toward arranging for the sale of two so-called super computers that India wants for weather research. The computers also have military uses.