Tuesday, February 8 2005 19:39 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Bangalore: US today (Feb 8, 2005) said it is looking for a larger market share in the Indian Defence market and hoped to increase its "supply activities" in the Indo-US military cooperation as the two nations build confidence.

"India is a large buyer of military equipment. US has a small market share now, " US Ambassador to India David C Mulford told reporters on the eve of Aero-India 2005 show that will see the largest ever US participation in the event.

Saying that India has indicated that it would like to diversify its sources of purchase of military equipment and US was a "logical partner", he said, "We are interested in becoming a major player in India" building on Indo-US relations, which was "running into an all time high".

He however emphasised, "We are not simply in the business of selling arms". Mulford noted that the navies of India and US were in touch with each other during the recent devastating tsunami tragedy in India and elsewhere.

Asked if there was tension between the Defence Industry and the US administration over military sales to India, Mulford replied in the negative.

Asked why only the civilian aircraft, not the military ones were being sold to India from the US, he said, India had indicated that it would like to "diversify its sources" and that they "have an interest in dealing with the US".

Mulford also noted that there had been a "huge expansion" in military ties between India and US in terms of joint exercises, ship calls and air exercises.