India-US ties: Amid tensions at China LAC, world’s leading democracies discuss fighting Covid-19, joint military drills and more

Recently India reached out to all friendly nations urging them to expedite the deliveries of the military equipment orders for which have been placed.

India and the US talk again on Friday evening – and the ongoing tensions along the Line of Actual Control with China were discussed at length. The call was made on the request of the US and defence minister Rajnath Singh and the US Secretary of Defence Mark Esper talked for almost 20 minutes.

During the discussions, Singh shared details about India’s position on the border tensions as well as about the aggressive posturing by the Chinese. The sides have been in regular touch and have been discussing issues of mutual interest and on further strengthening the India-US Military Cooperation. Today’s talks come close on the heels of the next round of Senior Commanders talks later this month and also today’s Working Mechanism for Consultation & Coordination on India-China Border Affairs (WMCC).

Sources also confirmed that Singh and Esper talked about the India-US military ties and the resumption of the joint military exercises which had to be put on hold due to the global pandemic of COVID-19.

The two talked about resuming the military exercises which had to be put on hold due to the global pandemic of COVID-19, and the forthcoming 2+2 India US Ministerial Dialogue which is scheduled for September in New Delhi. Also, the two talked about maritime domain awareness, the Indo-Pacific Region, and the ongoing threats to the rules-based international order.

It’s been almost eight weeks; the army troops of India and China have had a major clash in the Galwan Valley in which 20 Indian Army personnel were killed.

India-US Military Cooperation

Recently India reached out to all friendly nations urging them to expedite the deliveries of the military equipment orders for which have been placed.

Both India and the US has inked several agreements including the foundational agreement for mutual logistics support — the Logistics Exchange Memorandum of Agreement (LEMOA); Communications Compatibility and Security Agreement (COMCASA) and the Industrial Security Annexe.

While the two are yet to sign the Basic Exchange and Cooperation Agreement (BECA), the two countries last December adopted the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) Framework for DTTI.

Military Equipment

Today the US aerospace Boeing Company announced that it has finally delivered all the 15 multi-mission heavy-lift CH 4 Chinook transport helicopters and 22 AH 64E (I) Apache helicopters.

There are around eight Apaches which are armed with the Hellfire air-to-surface missiles. These are expected to help the Indian forces in anti-tank capabilities.

India is now awaiting UAVs from General Atomics. The three services are going to get ten each through the Foreign Military Sales route.

Artillery for the Indian Army

The M777 Ultra-Light Howitzers of US-based BAE Systems are already inducted and these are to be assembled in India as per the contract.

Under the `Buy Global’ category, .50 Calibre Sniper Rifle M95 MS Berrett.

SIG Sauer’s SiG 716 new automatic rifles are on the way for the Indian Army.