Asked if it will mean the presence of U.S. troops in India, Carter said: “No one is talking about the USA troops on Indian soil”.
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“Both sides agreed to strengthen cooperation in the area of maritime security”, said a joint statement issued after Carter held talks with Indian Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar. He also said that the two countries would soon complete a commercial shipping information exchange agreement, Reuters reported. They were assured it would not do that.
The United States’ accelerated airstrike and special forces campaign against the Islamic State is not dependent on Iraq’s political success, Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter said.
Although some of that can be done now, through what officials called “workarounds”, the agreement will help expedite such transactions.
This came as India and the United States emphasised on freedom of navigation and need for worldwide based order, in an apparent reference to China’s assertiveness in South China Sea. He also said that the aircraft carrier working group has been a success and the USA was looking to transfer flat deck technology to India for its new aircraft carrier. Carter will be on a two-day tour of Karwar in neighbouring Karnataka and Goa today and tomorrow before proceeding for New Delhi.It is indeed a great pleasure for me to receive Dr Carter in India. Under Modi Government, the defence official on condition of anonymity said there has been strong progress in bilateral relationship. Under DTTI, the two sides identified four areas in which they could not only exchange know-how but also jointly engage in production.
On Tuesday, Carter announced that the two countries have now agreed to start two more co-development projects – one for digital, helmet-mounted displays and one for biological detection system.
Carter said the two sides would finalise the text of an agreement in coming weeks.
“They expressed their desire to explore agreements which would facilitate further expansion of bilateral defense cooperation in practical ways”, the statement said.
While India has not yet decided which aircraft will be used on the new aircraft carrier, a senior US defense official said a jet like the F-18, which uses catapult technology to take off, “would be very attractive”.
The U.S. Navy officer in charge of a flight crew that located three castaways on a remote Pacific island said Monday he has never seen or heard of another rescue quite like it.
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“The minister added that the two countries had agreed to cooperate on new and “more ambitious” projects”. Though Americans claim to be boosting military capabilities of India to prepare it to assume the role of counter-weight to China but Pakistan has genuine reasons to feel insecure and go for moves to safeguard its interest.
