Indian Defense Minister To Discuss Joint Military Equipment Production With USA

Indian defense minister Manohar Parrikar will head for his first official visit to the US this week to discuss proposals for co-production of military equipment.

The discussion also includes proposals to bolster maritime security, counter-terrorism and intelligence-sharing between the two countries, Times Of India reported today.

While Parrikar leaves for the US on December 4, his "substantive" meetings with his American counterpart Ashton Carter are slated for December 9-10.

Parrikar will also raise the issue of the US continuing to supply advanced weaponry to Pakistan, even as the latter continues to involve in military threat with tactical nuclear weapons and keeps the terror infrastructure alive.

The US, being received over 13 billion worth defence deals from India since 2007 with several others being in the pipeline, is still keen on inking two bilateral "foundational agreements" that have been put on hold for long.

The military pacts, the Logistics Support Agreement (LSA) and the Communication Interoperability and Security Memorandum Agreement (CISMOA), were kept pending by the previous UPA agreement.

Following the NDA government coming to power last year, and the signing of the new 10-year India-US defence framework agreement and joint vision statement for the Asia-Pacific and Indian Ocean Region earlier this year, Washington has renewed its thrust on the two pacts.

The LSA envisages the two militaries providing logistics support, refuelling and berthing facilities for each other's warships and aircraft on a barter or an equal-value exchange basis.

Another agenda during Parrikar's visit will be to identify more military technologies for co-development and production under the bilateral Defence Technology and Trade Initiative.

For long-term project to construct the 65,000-tonne carrier INS Vishal, India is keen on EMALS (electromagnetic aircraft launch systems), developed by General Atomics for aircraft carriers.