Indo-US defence ties

Why in news?

Recent summit between US and India concluded with continuity in the bilateral defence and security relationship.

What is the status of Indio-US defence relations?

• The growth of the defence relationship has been astonishing.
• In the span of about a decade, defence trade shot from $1 billion to over $15 billion.
• The US and India take part in numerous and combined exercises.
• The US now authorises the sharing of sensitive technologies with India on a level commensurate with America’s closest allies.
• There has also been a substantial deepening of the security partnership, with a focus on counter-terrorism cooperation and intelligence sharing.

What is the importance of such relations?

• The defence partnership has proven to be a low velocity, high inertia affair slow, steady, but unlikely to change course absent a major disruption.
• This has been due, in part, to the fact that it has been under-girded by a common view of the balance of power in the Indo-Pacific, and a shared concern over China’s reach across Asia.
• This strategic rationale for defence cooperation is citing a set of “common principles” such as respect for international law and state sovereignty,
• The defence statement reaffirmed the imperative for US-India cooperation across Asia embodied in the 2015 Joint Strategic Vision.

What are the major Indo-US defence cooperation?

• Exercise - Deeper collaboration on maritime domain awareness,
• The annual US-India-Japan MALABAR exercise, which is “the largest maritime exercise ever conducted in the vast Indian Ocean,” and which included a focus on anti-submarine warfare.
• Defence trade - The summit’s flagship deal was the announcement that the US had offered a multi-billion dollar sale of 22 Sea Guardian Unmanned Aerial Systems.
• Procuring them should be a boon to India’s maritime surveillance.
• Counter Terror - This the area in which both might eventually see closer cooperation.
• The tough language on Pakistan along with the US designation of Hizb-ul-Mujahideen leader Syed Salah Uddin .
• The announcement of a new consultative mechanism on terrorist designation listings US may be more willing to take Pakistan to task and prioritise India’s grievances.

Source: Business Line