India, US to raise military interoperability, align defence industrial policy

Chief of Defence Staff Gen Bipin Rawat and his counterpart in the United States, Gen Mark A Milley, discussed ways to increase interoperability between the militaries of the two nations.

Rawat met Milley in Washington as senior officials of the two governments had a meeting in New Delhi and agreed to set up a working group to expeditiously align policies and procedures allowing defence industries of the two nations to collaborate on cutting edge military technologies.

The meeting between Rawat and Milley and the decision to align defence industrial policies and procedures of the two governments came close on the heels of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Washington for a meeting with the US President Joe Biden.

Rawat and Milley discussed a range of issues, including ways to ensure regional security and their respective roles as principal military advisors to civilian leadership. They also agreed to continue cooperation in training exercises and creating more opportunities to increase interoperability between the two militaries, Col. Dave Butler, a spokesperson of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, said.

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They also noted that India and the US shared a strong military-to-military relationship under the US-India ‘Major Defence Partnership’, which supported a free and open Indo-Pacific.

The meeting of the senior officials of the Ministry of Defence and the US Department of Defence in New Delhi was held to chalk out a roadmap for implementing the Industrial Security Annex (ISA), which was signed during the second 2+2 dialogue in December 2019 to be added to the already existing General Security of Military Information Agreement (GSOMIA).

The ISA provided a framework for exchange and protection of classified military information between the US and Indian industries in order to elevate the defence relations from the seller-buyer level to the level of joint research and development and joint production.

The four-day meeting ended with both sides agreeing in principle to establish the Indo-US Industrial Security Joint Working Group, which would meet periodically to align the policies and procedures expeditiously that will allow the defence industries to collaborate on cutting edge defence technologies, according to a government press release issued in New Delhi.

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