NEW DELHI: Nudging India to conclude the civil nuclear deal at the earliest, the US said here "the clock is ticking" and there is an "open question" on whether the Congress will be able to take it up "beyond this summer and September".

US Defense Secretary Robert Gates also made it clear that his country was eyeing Indian defense contracts worth billions of dollars, saying Washington wanted to have a "place at the table" when New Delhi procures weapon systems. "The clock is ticking in terms of how much time is available to get all the different aspects of an agreement implemented," he told reporters here before winding up his two-day visit.

Gates did not specify any time period by which India needed to take the steps like firming up the IAEA safeguards and seeking waiver from Nuclear Suppliers Group. He, however, made the deadline clear as he said: "with this being an election year, there is an open question about how long the Senate will be in session beyond this summer and September. After the India-IAEA Safeguards Agreement and waiver from NSG, the nuclear agreement has to go back to the US Congress for another vote. Without directly mentioning the stiff opposition by Left parties to operationalisation of the nuclear deal, he said the US respects India's internal politics and hopes that the government would resolve the issue in time.

The US Defense Secretary also met senior BJP leader L K Advani, whose party is also opposing the deal, in an apparent bid to seek his support. Anti-missile shield In his talks with his counterpart AK Antony, Gates talked about the possibility of cooperation in developing an anti-missile defense. "We understand India's needs for an anti-missile shield," Gates told reporters.

Stressing that perhaps a joint analysis could be carried out, he said the two countries were just beginning to talk on what India needs would be in the realm of missile defense and "where cooperation between us might help advance that". The Indian side insisted that the issue did not figure in the talks between Antony and Gates when they discussed enhancing cooperation in the defense field.

Major US armament makers Lockheed Martin, Raytheon and Boeing jointly lead the American missile program and have made a number of presentations to India on their PAC-III anti missile system as well as warship borne Aegis system. However, US companies have not shared with India their latest and highly advanced THAD anti-missile system. Both US and Indian Defense Ministry officials said "increase in military cooperation and trade" was on the cards.

With an eye on the ever increasing Indian weapons shopping list estimated to touch 5 to 8 Billion dollars a year shortly, Gates said US wanted to increase its weapons sales to India. Gates told Antony that the degree of engagement between the US and India hardly existed between Washington and other countries. The US Defense Secretary pitched for increasing US military sales to India and Antony told him that "Americans will have a level playing field in all Indian contracts along with other bidders," officials said.

They said the US side did not push for equipment sales to India but insisted that their weapons systems were in the realm of frontier technology. At his meeting with reporters, Gates said, "we are not looking for quick results or big leaps forward." "But rather a steady expansion of military-to-military relationship that leaves everybody comfortable. We are not moving too fast and what works for Indian domestic politics also works for us," he said.

The American leader expressed pleasure in India's purchase of six C-130J transport aircraft adding "there are some other deals in the works." India says wait on LSA Robert Gates during his talks with his Indian counterpart A K Antony, sought early conclusion of the controversial Logistics Support Agreement (LSA) under which the two countries will provide logistic support to each other's military. The two sides were close to signing two pacts on guaranteeing that US weapons supplied to India will not end up with third countries.

Another agreement CISMOA to ensure inter-operability of military communication equipment in times of crisis is also likely to be concluded in the near future. But the Indian side said more time was needed to consider all aspects of the agreement. "We will revert back to you," Antony told Gates, according to officials. The agreement has been under negotiation for quite some time but Left parties are opposed to it, arguing that it will make India a party to America's evil operations like in Iraq.

On CISMOA (Communication Inter-operability and Security Memorandum of Agreement) and End-Users Verification Agreement, officials said, "we have very marginal queries" and "once these are addressed, we are ready to sign them". An official said India was not comfortable with on-site verifications as sought by the US as some of the weapon systems were being used in highly-sensitive areas like Jammu and Kashmir. Both sides were in agreement "we can work out a way around it". The official said there was no offer by the US to sell 90,000 tonne aircraft carrier Kitty Hawk and "neither do we want it".