US close to signing defence deals with India

The U.S. is close to signing three foundational agreements with India in fields of defence and communications that will give a big boost to the bilateral ties, a top American military commander has said. “We were moving out aggressively in technical field with DTTI (Defence Technology and Trade Initiative),” US Pacific Command Commander Admiral Harry Harris said in response to a question on India-US defence relationship.

One of those is the LSA — Logistics Support Agreement — which allows us to do the cross servicing — acquisition cross servicing, for example, he said during his testimony before the House Committee on Armed Services.

“Another one is called the CISMOA (Communications and Information Security Memorandum of Agreement), and it involves communications security so that we can be assured that India will protect our communications as we would protect theirs,” Harris said.

The Pacific Command Commander is headed to India next week for a wide range of talks with his Indian counterparts.

PTI/hindu