Alarmed by terror attacks on Mumbai, India is in talks with the UK, US and Germany for deployment of sky marshals on flights connecting India with some key international destinations, reports The Economic Times.

While sky marshals were pressed into service soon after the 1999 hijack of an Indian Airlines aircraft which took off from Kathmandu, detailed guidelines have not been laid down for use of these commandos on international flights. Current discussions aim to put in place guidelines for use of sky marshals on international routes and co-ordination between the security apparatus of the countries concerned, said the ET report. 

While deployment of commandos was resorted to in recent years to spruce up security of Indian flights connecting Kathmandu, Dubai and Bangkok, there is no clear set of guidelines to be followed in such situations.

There are several issues that have to be dealt with. For one, there are certain reservations over presence of armed commandos on board a civilian aircraft. The US, for example, toyed with the idea of arming pilots after 9/11, but the plan did not find much acceptance.

In the case of an international flight, there could be issues like visa and landing of an armed commando in another country which may not find acceptance with the security forces of the nation concerned. The current talks are to sort out the differences over such issues. 

"These countries have not specified any time frame to conclude the agreement. But certainly they want it to done as soon as possible. The modalities of the agreement are yet to be worked out," the official added. 

The recent terror attack in Mumbai and the hijack alert generated by intelligence agencies last week could speed up Indias response to the feedback from these countries.

On domestic flights, sky marshals are deployed on a random basis to keep anti-national elements at bay. These commandos are usually shown as passengers and their identity is revealed only when the aircraft has landed at destination and passengers have disembarked. There have been some issues since airlines have to shell out tickets and bear cost of deployment of commandos partially. 

On international sectors, sky marshals travel as passengers and their identity is declared to the airport authorities of the country concerned on landing. Information is also sent out through security coordination channels before the flight reaches its destinations. 

"If the sky marshals are shown as part of the crew, then adequate visa arrangements have to be made. In case they are declared in advance, special visas can be used, but there is chance of information getting leaked out which will neutralise the surprise element that could blunt a hijack bid. Hence a clear system has to be formulated," the officials said.

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