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India signs landmark defence pact with U.S.
Why is it in news?
- India and the United States on Thursday sealed the landmark Communications Compatibility and Security Agreement (COMCASA) that will lead to a new generation of bilateral military partnership.
More in news
- Apart from the agreement that was signed at the end of the inaugural India-U.S. ‘2+2’ Ministerial Dialogue, both sides also called on Pakistan to stop terrorist strikes on ‘other countries’ and urged for maritime freedom in the Indo-Pacific region.
- U.S. Secretary of State Michael R. Pompeo and Secretary of Defence James N. Mattis led the American delegation, and the Indian team was headed by their counterparts Sushma Swaraj and Nirmala Sitharaman.
- India and the U.S. would also hold a first-ever tri-service exercise on the east coast of India in 2019, Ms. Sitharaman announced.
- An important element of Thursday’s discussion was starting the process of closer private defence industry collaboration that would allow Indian defence manufacturers to join the U.S. military supply chain.
- The two defence ministers also announced their readiness to begin negotiations on an Industrial Security Annex (ISA) that would support closer defence industry cooperation and collaboration.
- Signing of deal years ago
- India and the U.S. signed the General Security of Military Information Agreement (GSOMIA) years ago and it allows the sharing of classified information from the U.S. government and American companies with the Government of India and Defence Public Sector Undertakings (DPSU) but not with Indian private companies.
- An ISA is required to enable private Indian participation in defence production and is particularly important as India opens up defence manufacturing to the private sector in a big way.
- To further defence innovation, a Memorandum of Intent was signed between the U.S. Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) and the Indian Defence Innovation Organization — Innovation for Defence Excellence (DIO-iDEX), which will look into joint projects for co-production and co-development projects through the Defense Technology and Trade Initiative (DTTI).
- Both sides maintained that the Indo-Pacific region has emerged as an important part of bilateral cooperation and emphasised need to keep it open for maritime trade and free of disputes.