US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin To Meet Rajnath Singh Today To Discuss Cooperation Projects

US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin will meet Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Sunday to further strengthen the bilateral ties between both nations.

US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin ( Image Source :Getty )

US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin is set to arrive in India on Sunday for a two-day visit to discuss ways to further expand bilateral strategic engagement ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Washington visit. People in the loop about Austin's visit said that he and Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh are set to discuss a number of new defence cooperation projects which will be unveiled after the Prime Minister's visit to the US is over, reported news agency PTI. 

The proposal of General Electric to share technology for fighter jet engines with India and India's plan to procure 30 MQ-9B armed drones from US defence major General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc (GA-ASI), at a cost of over USD 3 billion is likely to be one of the key areas of their talks which is set to take place in Monday. India has been looking to manufacture jet engines within the country itself under the framework of technology transfer to power its fighter aircraft.

Keeping China's aggressive behaviour in the Indo-Pacific and the Line of Actual Control in mind, the talks will also focus on ways to combat the threat of terrorism. Apart from Austin, Germany's Federal Minister of Defence Boris Pistorius will also arrive in India during the same time viz. on Monday on a four-day visit. His and Singh's meet is slated to take place on Tuesday. 

The Pentagon issued a statement this week in which it said that Austin will further deepen the US-India 'Major Defence Partnership' as ties between the two nations enter a "new and exciting chapter," reported PTI. This is going to be his second visit to India with the first being in March 2021.

A host of bilateral defence cooperation issues, with a focus on industrial cooperation, are likely to be discussed during Singh's meetings with both the leaders. Ministry's statement read, "US Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin and German Federal Minister of Defence Boris Pistorius are visiting New Delhi for bilateral talks with Defence Minister Rajnath Singh."

Strong Strategic Ties

The defence and strategic ties between India and US have been on an upswing in the last few years. Both countries have inked key defence and security pacts over the last few years which includes the Logistics Exchange Memorandum of Agreement (LEMOA) that allows their military to use the bases of each other for the purpose of repair and replenishment of supplies.

Both nations have also signed COMCASA (Communications Compatibility and Security Agreement) in 2018 which provides for interoperability between the two militaries and provides for the sale of high-end technology from the US to India. In October 2020, both nations sealed the BECA (Basic Exchange and Cooperation Agreement) agreement in order to further boost bilateral defence ties. BECA provides for sharing of high-end military technology, logistics and geospatial maps between the two countries.