Indian team in U.S. for defence technology talks

[WolfPack86]

DTTI: FIRST SIGNS GOOD BUT INDIA TO WAIT AND WATCH ON DEFENSE TIES WITH U.S.
IN HIS testimony to the US Senate during his confirmation earlier this month, new American Defense Secretary General James Mattis highlighted the centrality of the India-US Defense Technology and Trade Initiative (DTTI) to ties between the two countries. Because of the DTTI, General Mattis said, the bilateral defense relationship “has grown to the benefit of both countries”. But, notwithstanding General Mattis’s optimism about the initiative, it has shown some progress on only two projects so far.
The DTTI mechanism was launched in 2012. It was a brainchild of then US deputy secretary of defense, Ashton Carter.
It progressed when Carter took over as the US defense secretary, and the first four projects under the DTTI were announced during President Barack Obama’s visit to New Delhi as chief guest for the 2015 Republic Day celebrations. India and the US are currently working on six projects under the DTTI framework and two more American proposals are under the consideration of the Defense Ministry.
“The whole idea of the DTTI was to cut through the government bureaucracies on the two sides. As a mechanism for defense cooperation, it has to focus on advanced technologies. Fifty per cent of the original projects have reached project agreement stage, two are in a limbo, and we are hopeful of progress on the rest,” an official dealing with the DTTI framework told The Indian Express.
The two projects in a limbo, the Roll-on Roll-off Kit and the Micro Unmanned Aerial Vehicle, have not progressed at all. Sources said these two projects are industry-focused and defense companies have not shown adequate interest in them. They will thus “need to be explored further”.
The Next General Individual Protection Ensemble and Mobile Electric Hybrid Power Source projects reached the agreement stage in 2015.
DRDO and US Labs are the lead agencies from the two countries for these projects. Scientists from the two agencies discuss the progress on a monthly basis via telephonic conferences besides meeting twice a year, sources said.
The Digital Helmet Mounted Display and Joint Biological Tactical Detection System projects were proposed last year and are currently “at a discussion stage”. Besides these six joint projects, India and the US formed five joint working groups in addition to the original two working groups under the DTTI.
Among the two American proposals under the consideration of the Defense Ministry is an offer to include Israel for joint development and production of Advanced Tactical Ground Combat Vehicle (ATGCV). The US offer for trilateral cooperation on the futuristic military platform was made last November but official sources said that they are yet to make up their mind on it. The Defense Ministry is likely to convey its decision to the Americans at the next DTTI meeting in March or April, which is scheduled to be hosted at the Pentagon.
“The ATGCV project potentially goes way beyond the Futuristic Infantry Combat Vehicle (FICV) which we are developing indigenously here in India. The Americans feel that three advanced countries can bring their advantage of expertise and economy to the project which, if successful, could then be used by the armies of all the three countries,” officials told The Indian Express.
The American side also proposed bilateral development of Future Vertical Lift Helicopter (FVLH) in November under the DTTI. An announcement on the project is expected at the next DTTI meeting.
Besides these new projects, the Pentagon had proposed to the Defense Ministry that the two sides work on a deal for an American combat fighter aircraft, whether F-16 or F-18, under the DTTI. This proposal was made at the DTTI Inter-Agency Task Force meeting early last year. But the Defense Ministry did not want the fighter aircrafts to be considered under the DTTI. Defense Minister Manohar Parrikar recently said that the government would chose a single-engine foreign fighter, the American F-16 or the Swedish Gripen, under Make in India to supplement the 36 Rafale fighters in the medium-weight category. The decision, Parrikar said, will only be made after a Strategic Partnership model, to identify an exclusive private defense company for manufacturing the aircraft in India, has been made by his ministry.
Donald Trump’s victory in the US Presidential polls had left the Indian side concerned about the state of the DTTI because it was seen as Carter’s personal project. These concerns were addressed with the passage of the National Defense Authorization Act of 2017 (NDAA 2017) by the US government last month, in which Section 1292 on ‘Enhancing Defense and Security Cooperation with India’ institutionalized the DTTI mechanism.
Despite General Mattis’s statement now that “the US-India (defense) relationship has been strengthened in recent years”, New Delhi remains unsure about the priority the Trump administration may give to defense cooperation. By all accounts, New Delhi will adopt “a wait and watch attitude”.
http://www.indiandefensenews.in/2017/01/dtti-first-signs-good-but-india-to-wait.html

 

[ezsasa]

DTTI has failed so far because none of the projects proposed have Indian requirements in mind, more like pushing costly American tech to India.

If Americans continue with this approach, DTTI will never succeed.

 

[Mikesingh]

Star wars technology from the US is fine but how about some basic technology against Kashmiri stonepelters?

 

[scatterStorm]

Star wars technology from the US is fine but how about some basic technology against Kashmiri stonepelters?

I am still thinking that why the government doesn't invest in anti-riot tech, like LRAD. It is very effective. It's even installed on frigates, to ward of pirates in the sea. Even NYPD and other Japanese police forces uses LRAD type tech. It's darn effective.

And this:

The proposal of using plastic bullets, is some 90s era BS anyways.

 

[Mikesingh]

I am still thinking that why the government doesn't invest in anti-riot tech, like LRAD. It is very effective. It's even installed on frigates, to ward of pirates in the sea. Even NYPD and other Japanese police forces uses LRAD type tech. It's darn effective.

And this:

The proposal of using plastic bullets, is some 90s era BS anyways.

The question is: WTF have we been doing for the past many years against these stone pelters in the Valley? It's been more than a decade that we've been planning to buy this and buy that, but nothing materializes. The J&K police, and other CPOs continue to get hit due to lack of proper equipment.

When are we gonna wake up from our deep slumber and get cracking? We Indians just love to talk and plan but do nothing else. This poodle faking has to stop and we need to get serious.

 

[scatterStorm]

The question is: WTF have we been doing for the past many years against these stone pelters in the Valley? It's been more than a decade that we've been planning to buy this and buy that, but nothing materializes. The J&K police, and other CPOs continue to get hit due to lack of proper equipment.

When are we gonna wake up from our deep slumber and get cracking? We Indians just love to talk and plan but do nothing else. This poodle faking has to stop and we need to get serious.

Well I think our MoD have considered LRAD but due to geopolitical pressure, such as human rights and other BS we haven't have the spine for doing this. I was watching some paki news on YouTube for fun, and even the beggar recognises that our Indian politics is spineless, heck even there beautiful womah anchors talks like entire India is part of there toil.

I think Indian government should start some new intitatives like, "those who will migrate to south of the country or any other place excluding Kashmir will get subsidies, home and good education and stuff to there children". Smart people will move out and only will remain who needs some big stick.

 

[WolfPack86]

In The Works: Modi-Trump Meeting In June
United States National Security Advisor H R McMaster met Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi Tuesday, setting the ball rolling for a bilateral visit by the Prime Minister in the next few months, possibly as early as June. If this happens, it will be his fifth visit to the US in three years. Top sources told The Indian Express that Washington and New Delhi are trying to work out dates, much ahead of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in September, widely expected to be Modi’s first bilateral visit to the US after the new administration under President Donald Trump assumed office in January this year.
Sources said the US State Department is not willing to host foreign leaders for bilateral meetings around UNGA, since they have already received more than two dozen “requests” for bilateral meetings with Trump. “The calendar is too crowded in September. The objective is to give due importance to the visit,” a source said.
Both Indian and American government sources confirmed the possibility that Modi may travel to the US for a stand-alone bilateral visit in June or July. Modi and Trump are anyway expected to meet in early July during the G-20 summit in Hamburg, Germany. Sources said that one tranche of dates has been proposed in early-to-mid June, and the other set of dates is in mid-July.
“McMaster’s meetings with Indian officials, including the Prime Minister, has explored the possibility. This is a follow-up to the Trump-Modi phone call after the inauguration,” a source told The Indian Express. At the meeting with Modi, McMaster reaffirmed India’s designation as a Major Defense Partner and emphasized the importance of its strategic relationship.
“The two sides discussed a range of bilateral and regional issues, including their shared interest in increasing defense and counter-terrorism cooperation,” the US embassy in New Delhi said in a statement after the meetings. “NSA McMaster emphasized the importance of the US-India strategic relationship and reaffirmed India’s designation as a Major Defense Partner,” it said, noting that the meetings were “productive”. McMaster, who is the first senior official from the Trump administration to visit India, met NSA Ajit Doval and Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar.
“The visit was a part of regional consultations that included stops in Kabul and Islamabad,” the statement said. The Indian side, in its statement, said McMaster “conveyed the greetings” of President Trump to Prime Minister Modi. “Prime Minister recalled his positive telephonic conversations with President Trump that reaffirmed the importance attached by both sides to the strategic partnership and to stepping up India-US engagement across the board,” the Prime Minister’s Office said, in a statement.
McMaster “shared his perspective” with Prime Minister on the security situation in the extended region, including in Afghanistan, West Asia and North Korea. This is perceived to be a reference to Pakistan-based terror groups, ISIS and China’s role in North Korea’s missile and nuclear programs. During the conversation, they exchanged views on “how both countries can work together to effectively address the challenge of terrorism and to advance regional peace, security and stability”.
Earlier, McMaster and Doval held detailed discussions on Indo-US relations especially the security aspect of the ties, sources said. The US NSA arrived last evening from Pakistan where he met Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Pakistan Army chief General Qamar Ahmed Bajwa.
While McMaster is understood to have raised the issue of Pakistan-based terror groups, Pakistan Army spokesperson Major General Asif Ghafoor tweeted on Tuesday, “US NSA meets COAS. Pak itself is victim of state sponsored terrorism, it strongly rejects allegations of employing proxies from its soil.” This was in response to reports of McMaster raising the issue in his meeting with Bajwa.
http://www.indiandefensenews.in/2017/04/in-works-modi-trump-meeting-in-june.html

 

[Mikesingh]

While McMaster is understood to have raised the issue of Pakistan-based terror groups, Pakistan Army spokesperson Major General Asif Ghafoor tweeted on Tuesday, “US NSA meets COAS. Pak itself is victim of state sponsored terrorism, it strongly rejects allegations of employing proxies from its soil.” This was in response to reports of McMaster raising the issue in his meeting with Bajwa.
http://www.indiandefensenews.in/2017/04/in-works-modi-trump-meeting-in-june.html

The usual lies of these Porki fundoos! They are making a fool of themselves in the eyes of the world by denying that they are using mercenary terror proxies against India (and Afghanistan).

What have they raised the LeT and JeM for? To provide milk and honey to the Porki Army? Jeeez! Idiots galore in the 'Land Of The Pure'!

 

[prohumanity]

Why India should buy overpriced helicopters from other nations when old friend Russia is willing to offer high tech heli opters...ask Prez Vladimir to jointly produce KA-52 and other such goodies. Wasting too much money on western stuff which is too overpriced is not a good idea.

 

[Adioz]

I am still thinking that why the government doesn't invest in anti-riot tech, like LRAD. It is very effective. It's even installed on frigates, to ward of pirates in the sea. Even NYPD and other Japanese police forces uses LRAD type tech. It's darn effective.

And this:

The proposal of using plastic bullets, is some 90s era BS anyways.

If I am not wrong, LRAD is standard equipment on Indian Naval and Coast Guard vessels. I remember reading how some Seychelles warship donated by India chased away some pirates using LRAD.

 

[Srinivas_K]

Grab as much tech as possible from all over the world is the mantra.

 

[scatterStorm]

If I am not wrong, LRAD is standard equipment on Indian Naval and Coast Guard vessels. I remember reading how some Seychelles warship donated by India chased away some pirates using LRAD.

So we can install some LRAD on our navy ship vessels but not on some mine protected trucks? What kind of sorcery is this.

 

[WolfPack86]

In the era of Donald Trump, India-US defence ties change tack
On April 18, almost three months after the Unites States President Donald Trump was sworn in, his National Security Advisor, Lieutenant General HR McMaster, travelled to New Delhi — the first high-level US official to visit India to pick up the strings of defence and security ties that had blossomed under Trump’s predecessor, Barack Obama.

Senior New Delhi officials, accustomed to the warmth of Ashton Carter, defence secretary in the Obama administration, found McMaster’s visit rather less comforting. It yielded mainly routine statements on “shared perspectives” with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and pro-forma US assurances that India remains central to Washington’s notion of Asian security. No date was agreed for Modi to visit Washington – recognition the prime minister covets but must now wait for.

New Delhi has expected change, after being at the target end of Trump’s anti-immigration, anti-outsourcing campaign. Change was also predicted in the China factor, which had triggered Obama’s “rebalance to Asia” and, therefore, India’s new importance in Asia’s security architecture.


On the day Trump was sworn in, he fulfilled a campaign promise to withdraw from the Trans-Pacific Partnership, an anti-China trade grouping, thus potentially easing trade tensions with China. The new president has deferred campaign promises to declare Beijing a currency manipulator, ostensibly after Chinese promises to rein in North Korea. Trump’s invitation to Chinese President Xi Jinping for an ice-breaking summit in Florida in early April inflamed New Delhi’s concerns that he is mercurial on China, up one day and down the next.

On the crucial US-India-Pakistan dynamic, Trump had already irked New Delhi in November by offering to mediate on Kashmir. This was aggravated earlier this month by his influential UN envoy, Nikki Haley, who declared that Trump himself might oversee an India-Pakistan peace process. New Delhi’s response was predictably icy.

There remains immense goodwill for India amongst US Congresspersons, both in the Senate and the House of Representatives. But an administration embroiled in acrimonious political battles has lagged in appointing officials to the senior positions where policy is enacted and prioritised. No matter how well intentioned the US Congress, it can do little for now with just a skeleton administration to work with.

Of the 600-700 new Trump appointments that the Senate must okay, barely 22 have been confirmed so far. The two key departments dealing with security policy — defence (the Pentagon) and state — are functioning without confirmed Deputy Secretaries, who are their de facto chief operating officers.

That leaves New Delhi in the unfamiliar and uncomfortable position of not having a champion in Washington. For years, Carter drove the India relationship, fuelled by Obama’s unwaveringly conviction that a strong India was in America’s national interest, regardless of whether it marched alongside America or bought US weaponry.

Carter brought attention to India at the Principals’ level – the rarefied decision-making layer that is Washington’s equivalent of India’s Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs. In the Trump administration, New Delhi can take solace only in the appointment of Lisa Curtis, who has been named Senior Director for South Asia in the National Security Council.

A Washington insider says that with the new administration so understaffed, there is little adult supervision of India policy. Yet, without a strategic India policy from the executive, or enough personnel to sustain new strategic initiatives on India, the question already taking centre stage is: why exactly is New Delhi a policy priority? What is India delivering to us?

“The Trump team wants deals that tangibly benefit both countries, including American workers. Senior officials are instinctively pro-India, but they will invest time in the relationship only if they see positive results rather than just rhetoric,” says Ben Schwartz of the US-India Business Council.

This outlook aligns with Trump’s insistence, voiced during campaigning, that America’s military allies and partners who “free-ride” on US military capabilities must start paying their way. While India is not a US treaty ally like Japan, South Korea or NATO countries, the Trump administration’s default mindset is transactional, rather than strategic. That causes US officials to raise proposals like: “Don’t you think India should buy the F-16 fighter to demonstrate support to the new president?”

This transactional approach has a serious downside, says a US defence industry executive. “If India chooses Sweden’s Gripen NG light fighter over the F-16, the chatter in Washington will return to how “oversold” the India relationship is.

“Under Trump, it’s easy to imagine the president’s desire for quid pro quos clashing badly with New Delhi’s insistence on decision-making autonomy,” says Shashank Joshi, a fellow with the Royal United Service Institution in London.

While New Delhi has always seen the US defence relationship as a source of high technology for building indigenous defence weaponry, Pentagon officials say Defence Secretary Mattis wants to shift the relationship’s focus from technology transfer to operational cooperation between the two militaries. If China is what binds New Delhi and Washington strategically, believes Mattis, there needs to be visible action and capability creation towards that.

New Delhi, however, has longstanding reservations about participating in anything that resembles a military alliance. In March 2016, the US Pacific Command chief, Admiral Harry Harris, speaking before a New Delhi audience, envisioned the day when “American and Indian Navy vessels steaming together will become a common and welcome sight throughout Indo-Asia-Pacific waters.” But Manohar Parrikar, then India’s defence minister, quickly poured cold water on that prospect, publicly ruling out any question of joint patrolling. Then, in July, Parrikar reinforced that message in Parliament, stating: “No talks have been held with the United States on conduct of any joint naval patrols. Further, Indian Navy has never carried out joint patrols with another country.”

True, Sino-Indian relations have sharply declined since then. Beijing’s opposition to India’s membership of the Nuclear Suppliers Group; its support to Pakistan in blocking a UN resolution designating Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Azhar Mehmood a terrorist; the growing supply of Chinese weaponry to Pakistan; China’s role in connecting its western Xinjiang province with Pakistan’s Arabian Sea port of Gwadar under the “Belt and Road” initiative; and, this month, Beijing’s aggressive castigation of New Delhi for permitting the Dalai Lama to visit the disputed Tawang area in Arunachal Pradesh, might have sharpened resolve in New Delhi to be more assertive with China.

Yet, it remains an open question whether this disharmony will encourage India into deeper joint training and operations with the US and its allies. For now, New Delhi seems disinclined to provoke Beijing by acceding to Australia’s request to be an observer in the forthcoming Indo-US-Japan trilateral Malabar naval exercise.

Operational cooperation is also impeded by New Delhi’s longstanding reluctance to sign two defence agreements that would legally enable Washington to supply highly secured equipment to India. The first of these, the Communications Compatibility and Security Agreement (COMCASA), would allow the US to transfer secured communications links to India that would improve the ability for joint operations. For example, in January, Pacific Command chief, Admiral Harris, told this correspondent that the US and Indian navies were cooperatively tracking Chinese submarines in the Indian Ocean, using the Boeing P-8 maritime aircraft. However, India’s non-signature of COMCASA meant its P-8I (I for India) was supplied without the communications equipment needed to “talk” to the US Navy’s P-8A (A for America). This was a self-inflicted blow to operational effectiveness, noted Harris.

However, New Delhi has resisted signing COMCASA, as also the second agreement, termed the Basic Exchange and Cooperation Agreement for Geospatial Information and Services Cooperation, which facilitates secure digital mapping, because of intrusive security measures that come with safeguarded equipment, including inspections on Indian bases.

New Delhi has gradually ceded ground to the US on these agreements. First, it signed India-specific “end user verification” agreements, which allowed it to get cutting-edge protective equipment for the prime minister’s executive jet. Last year, a Logistics Exchange Memorandum of Agreement was signed, which allows the two militaries to access each other’s logistic facilities. Neither of these faced the domestic political blowback that New Delhi so worried about. Admiral Harris believes COMCASA might be signed first, as “it deals with interoperability and stuff that we really need”. This would amount to an Indian statement that would provide serious impetus to US-India defence ties in the early days of Trump.
http://defencenews.in/article/In-the-era-of-Donald-Trump,-India-US-defence-ties-change-tack-251742

 

[WolfPack86]

India-US military logistics pact could be functional by July
The landmark Indo-US logistics pact that provides for cashless refuelling, replenishment and related services to the militaries of the two countries could be functional as early as July with most of the kinks ironed out, informed sources said.

"The agreement is likely to be implemented before the Malabar exercise," the sources told IANS referring to the annual India-US-Japan naval drill in the Bay of Bengal that is slated for July.


Manohar Parrikar, then India's Defence Minister and his US counterpart at the time, Ashton Carter, had inked the Logistics Exchange Memorandum of Agreement (LEMOA) last August.

Under this, both countries will designate military facilities on either side for facilities like refuelling and replenishment -- with the books being balanced at the end of year.

During joint exercises like Malabar, both countries were required to make payments each time for using each other's facilities. Now, the accounts will be settled once a year.

According to the sources, the details of the agreement have been worked out, with India sharing its "point of contact" list. The US had shared its list last year.

This list lays down the ports globally where vessels of the two countries can dock to take on supplies.

The sources also said that the vexed issue of arriving at a common accounting system for the three services has also been resolved.

The agreement had been pending for 10 years, with the former Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government fighting shy of expressing its opinion one way or the other.

It comes at a time when the US has been vocal about the growing activities of China in the South China sea and has repeatedly stressed on freedom of navigation.

LEMOA is a tweaked, India-specific version of the Logistics Support Agreement (LSA), which the US had first proposed in 2004 at the sixth meeting of the India-US Defence Policy Group.

The LSA, in turn, is a version of the Acquisition and Cross-Servicing Agreement (ACSA) that the US has with several NATO nations.

India had provided logistics support to the US during the 1990-91 Gulf War, when the Chandra Shekhar-led government under Chandra Shekhar granted overflight rights US militaty planes and even permitted refueling -- but revoked this after protests.

During the 2004 Tsunami, US support came in handy with India lacking the capability to provide assistance to the vast affected areas, as it did after 2015 Nepal earthquake.

Experts say the agreement will help provide such humanitarian assistance in future.

Laxman Behera, a member of IDSA's Defence Economics and Industry Centre, termed the pact a "step forward" in consolidating the India-US strategic partnership.

"This is another example of growing proximity in relations between the two countries. It will be helpful for India, because if the army, navy or air force goes somewhere, you would not have to complete the formalities for logistics support," Behera told IANS.

The pact will benefit the navy the most, he added.
http://defencenews.in/article/India-US-military-logistics-pact-could-be-functional-by-July-251812

 

[WolfPack86]

June-July dates for PM Modi's US visit? India & America working on it
NEW DELHI: India and the US are working on three sets of dates in June and July for PM Modi's possible state visit. Modi has engagements in Germany, Spain, Russia and Kazakhstan that will end by June 9. It will be Modi's first visit to the US after Donald Trump assumed presidency.

Issues likely to figure during a Modi-Trump dialogue include H-1B visa, Af-Pak, west and east Asian situation, stability of Asia-Pacific region and challenges from ISIS. Changes in H-1B visa rules have seen Indian software giants scouting for other markets.

Cross-border terror and expansion of defence ties also will figure prominently in the dialogue, as it did during McMaster's trip. The current Pak actions along LoC and attempts to export terror are likely to be on Modi's agenda.

PM begins his foreign engagements with a visit to Sri Lanka next week, followed by a trip to Germany (May 30) for inter-governmental consultations, bilateral trip to Spain (May 31) and Russia (June 1-3) for the St Petersburg International Economic Forum & Annual Summit.

Between June 7 and 9, Modi will be in Astana for the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation Summit, when India will be admitted as a member. TheUS formally invited Modi for a US visit when national security advisor HR McMaster visited India last month.

Trump also had twice invited Modi to visit the US this year, during his telephonic conversations with him. This will be Modi's fifth trip to the US since he became PM. He was in the US twice last year, including a standalone bilateral engagement that featured an address to the joint session of Congress.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/...merica-working-on-it/articleshow/58508991.cms

 

[WolfPack86]

PM Modi may meet US Prez Trump in June-end, discuss terrorism and H-1B visas
Narendra Modi is likely to visit Washington from June 26-28 and discuss with US President Trump about terrorism, NSG entry, H-1B visas among other issues.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to meet US President Donald Trump in Washington in the last week of June, with terrorism emanating from Pakistan dominating the agenda, sources said on Sunday.

In his first meeting with Trump after the developer-turned-politician took over as the President in January, Modi is also expected to discuss India’s entry into the nuclear suppliers group, changes in the H-1B visa regime, defence ties between the two sides and China’s increasingly aggressive stance in east and south Asia.

While top Indian officials are tight-lipped about the dates of the visit, US government sources indicated Modi would be in Washington from June 26 to June 28. The two leaders could meet again in Hanover, Germany on the sidelines of the July 7-8 G-20 meeting.

Discussions on the agenda of the Modi-Trump meeting had begun with Indian ambassador to the US Navtej Sarna extending his New Delhi visit beyond the heads of mission meeting on May 7, sources in the ministry of external affairs said.

Indication that terrorism will top the agenda came during the meetings US national security adviser HR McMaster, who was in Delhi recently, had with his Indian counterpart Ajit Doval, foreign secretary S Jaishankar and intelligence chiefs on April 17.

Acting FBI director Andrew McCabe, too, was keen on exchange of evidence about terror groups during his India visit the same month. McCabe was then the deputy to James B Comey, who was fired by Trump on May 9.

Both McMaster and McCabe heard the Indian side on terror emanating from Af-Pak region and the growing influence of Islamic State Wilayat Khorasan module in Nangarhar in Afghanistan.

There are reports that a group of Indians, including women and children, from north Kerala has escaped to the remote eastern Afghanistan. The war-torn province made headlines last month when the US military dropped GBU-43 bomb, the country’s largest non-nuclear bomb ever deployed in combat.

It is too early to predict the outcome of Modi-Trump meetings but there could be a definite movement in the extradition of 26/11 Mumbai attack accused Tahawwur Rana, a Pakistani-born Chicago businessman who helped Lashkar-e-Taiba’s David Coleman Headley with his travels as he scouted sites in India for the terror strikes at the behest of his handlers in the Pakistan’s powerful spy agency the ISI.

There were indications that the US department of justice has processed India’s extradition request and forwarded it to the state department, source said.

There was also a possibility of the FBI signing a memorandum of understanding with India’s anti-terror agency the National Investigation Agency for sharing evidence in case of terror attacks.

The US agencies are keen to exchange data on Islamic State with India, particularly in context of Afghanistan and Pakistan’s role in it.

Recently, the Trump administration blamed Pakistan for deteriorating relations with India and warned that terror groups based in the neighbouring country were planning to hit India and Afghanistan.

“Pakistani-based terrorist groups will present a sustained threat to the US interests in the region and continue to plan and conduct attacks in India and Afghanistan,” US national intelligence director Daniel Coats told the Senate intelligence panel.

Modi and Trump were expected to work towards strengthening defence ties, with New Delhi set to clear the new strategic partners’ policy in the coming week, source said.

Under the plan, Indian defence majors will tie up with US firms to manufacture naval helicopters, submarines, armoured vehicles and single-engine fighters under the Modi government’s ambitious “Make in India” initiative. India is also interested in high-altitude long-endurance Predator drones.
http://www.hindustantimes.com/india...-h-1b-visas/story-LJLa0ahZKz8s8vaWf8HYcJ.html

 

[WolfPack86]

Modi may do a Madison Square in Houston
PM to combine diaspora event and energy diplomacy in the Texas city during his U.S. visit in June
Prime Minister Narendra Modi may mix diaspora diplomacy and energy diplomacy during his visit to the U.S. in June to meet President Donald Trump, with a proposal to visit Houston in Texas as well, several sources in New Delhi and Washington have confirmed to The Hindu.

After New York and California, Texas accounts for the most number of Indian-Americans in the U.S., and officials involved say the Prime Minister has been invited by local community leaders to address an NRI event of the kind he held in Madison Square Gardens in 2014 and in Silicon Valley in 2015.

Request from Indians
The invitation to visit Houston came in February, when a delegation of community leaders met Mr. Modi in Delhi, and requested him to plan his next “diaspora” event in Texas, where about 2,50,000 Indian-Americans live and work. At a meeting with Union Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan in Washington in March, U.S. Energy Secretary Rick Perry put in a request for Mr. Modi to visit Texas, the centre of the American petroleum industry and the U.S. leader’s home state.

Another possible attraction in Houston is the NASA Johnson Space Centre, given Mr. Modi’s particular interest in space diplomacy, India-U.S. space cooperation and plans to launch a joint satellite in 2021.

The Texas visit is under serious consideration, it has been learnt, and a final decision is expected to be taken by the Prime Minister’s Office in the next week.

“Time is short, and we would need to make arrangements fairly quickly if the PMO decides to go ahead with the Houston diaspora event,” a BJP leader told The Hindu, adding that a senior functionary of the ruling party who coordinates such events will be travelling to the U.S. next week.


Curbs lifted
Prime Minister Modi is expected to travel to Washington D.C. in the last week of June, and dates are expected to be announced by the end of this month. While the visit will seek to emphasize the wide range of cooperation between the two countries such and defence and counter terrorism, fossil fuels will be an added component, as the Donald Trump administration is lifting restrictions on exploration and exports.

Officials say that in the new administration, Mr. Trump wants to showcase more U.S. exports and more investments and jobs in America as outcomes of his foreign policy; fossil fuel could be the sector that gives India-U.S. ties a new thrust. Thirty per cent of the increase in the world’s energy demand from now to 2040 is expected to come from India, and energy cooperation will be an increasingly key component of bilateral relations, Mr. Pradhan had said after his meeting with Mr. Perry.

Mr. Trump and Republican lawmakers have already set in motion a series of measures that will deregulate American oil, gas and coal sectors. Three Indian public sector companies — GAIL, Oil India and IOC — and Reliance have invested in U.Ss shale gas production, officials pointed out, adding that oil diplomacy, like Indo-U.S. defence, trade, and renewable enrgy could turn into the next “win-win” for the two countries.
http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/modi-may-do-a-madison-square-in-houston/article18469162.ece

 

[WolfPack86]

US recognises India as a major defence partner: Defence Secretary James Mattis
The US recognises India as a major defence partner partly out of respect for New Delhi's indispensable role in maintaining stability in the Indian Ocean region, Defence Secretary James Mattis has said.

The US is exploring new ways to address new challenges as well from maritime security to the growing threat posed by the spread of terrorism in Southeast Asia, Mattis said in his remarks at the Shangri-La Dialogue.

"For example, we recognise India, the most populous democracy in the world, as a major defence partner. We did so in part out of respect for India's indispensable role in maintaining stability in the Indian Ocean region," he said according to a Defense Department transcripts.

Mattis called upon all countries to contribute sufficiently to their own security.

"At the same time, we encourage them to actively seek out opportunities and partnerships with other like-minded nations as we do the same to sustain and maintain the peace. We will continue to engage closely with our partners, building on recent progress," he said.

Mattis said one of the top priorities of the Defense Department is to empower countries in the region so they can be even stronger contributors to their own peace and stability.

"The Pacific region countries represented here are obviously critical to strengthening and transforming the underlying security structure that has enabled tremendous regional prosperity. For we don't take that peace or prosperity for granted," he said.
http://www.defencenews.in/article/U...partner-Defence-Secretary-James-Mattis-262426

 

[Butter Chicken]

For US partnership means partner nation should be subservient to them.For India,if they are really serious,they have to change this attitude

 

[SanjeevM]

Partnership means TOT. Is the U.S. ready for TOT for critical systems? How can the U.S. assume India to counterbalance China in IOR without sharing technology? On one side Trump is coming up with strong statements against India and on other side talking about partnership?

They should have consistency in what they intend, speak and do.