India to step up defence collaboration with USA

India is stepping up defence collaboration with the USA having already inked its biggest-ever military deal for eight long-range maritime reconnaissance aircraft for the Indian Navy for $2.1 billion. It is also planning to go in for three key military pacts with Washington, including one which would enable their militaries to refuel ships and aircraft in cash-less transactions that are balanced at the end of the year. “The deal for the eight P8I reconnaissance aircraft has been signed directly with the Boeing company. The terms and the end-user agreement governing the use of sensitive technology is yet to be sorted out with the US government,” highly placed sources said. According to these sources, the actual signing was done on 1 January with the defence ministry’s joint secretary, Preeti Sudan, and Boeing integrated defence systems vice-president and country head Vivek Lall. India will get the first of the P-81 by end-2012 or early 2013 with the remaining seven expected to be delivered in a phased manner by 2015-16. The contract also enables India to order four to eight more such aircraft. Apart from the Logistics Support Agreement (LSA), the other pacts pending are the Communication Interoperability and Security Memorandum of Agreement (CISMOA) that will enable the two militaries to communicate on a common platform, and an end-user agreement governing the sale of US military hardware to India. The USA has agreements similar to the LSA in place with some 65 countries. With the Indian and US militaries increasing their engagement in war games on land, in the air and at sea, CISMOA has become a necessity to ensure there are no communication glitches. “With the increasing number of military exercises between the countries, the pact is set to be given the green signal soon,” sources said.