INDIA AND UNITED STATES

"We were strangers in defence cooperation at the turn of the century. Now, the United States has become one of our most important defence partners," Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in his address to the joint session of the US Congress during his state visit in June 2023. "Today India and the US are working together, in space and in the seas, in science and in semiconductors, in start-ups and sustainability, in tech and in trade, in farming and finance, in art and artificial intelligence, in energy and education, in healthcare and humanitarian efforts."

- Vaishali Basu Sharma

FROM STRANGERS IN DEFENCE COOPERATION TO STRATEGIC PARTNERS

The Indo-US strategic partnership is especially significant because down the line it's not an ally relationship but one of equal partners and strategic interest in China. The India-US defence and strategic ties have been on an upswing in the last few years. The two countries have inked key defence and security pacts over the past few years, including the Logistics Exchange Memorandum of Agreement (LEMOA) in 2016 that allows their militaries to use each other's bases for repair and replenishment of supplies. The two sides also signed COMCASA (Communications Compatibility and Security Agreement) in 2018 which provides for interoperability between the two militaries and also provides for the sale of high-end technology from the US to India. In October 2020, India and the US sealed the BECA (Basic Exchange and Cooperation Agreement) pact to further boost bilateral defence ties. The pact provides for the sharing of high-end military technology, logistics and geospatial maps between the two countries.

In the aftermath of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's first official state visit to the US, though there has been a significant paradigm shift and incredible momentum in the US-India defence relationship and both countries are geared toward expanding technological and defence cooperation as they attempt to face China's expansion in the Indo-pacific region and beyond. India and the US have entered into a next-generation defence partnership with two key deals - a Jet Engine technology transfer between GE and HAL and an armed drone acquisition deal with General Atomics.