New Delhi: US Naval Operations chief Adm Michael Gilday, who is on a five day official visit to India, discussed bilateral maritime relations with Indian Navy chief Admiral Karambir Singh in New Delhi.
“We are committed to operationalizing our #USIndiaDefense partnership, including through enhanced information-sharing, regional security, and exercising at sea together,” the US Navy CNO said.
Admiral Gilday is also scheduled to visit Indian Navy’s Western Naval Command (at Mumbai) and Eastern Naval Command (at Visakhapatnam) wherein he would interact with the respective Commander-in-Chiefs.
Admiral Gilday is also scheduled to embark the USN Carrier Strike Group off the East Coast of India alongwith an Indian delegation.
India and USA have traditionally maintained close and friendly relations.
The Defence relationship between the two countries has been one of mutual trust and confidence, which has transformed after the accord of major ‘Defence Partner Status’ to India in June 2016.
In addition, both countries have concluded certain foundational agreements, which includes the Defence Framework Agreement, signed in 2015, which lays a blue print for collaboration between the defence establishments of both countries, the Logistics Exchange Memorandum of Agreement (LEMOA) signed in 2016, which is a foundational agreement facilitating reciprocal logistics support between the Armed Forces of both countries, the Communications Compatibility and Security Agreement (COMCASA) signed on 06 September 2018, which facilitates information-sharing between the Armed Forces of both nations and more recently, the Basic Exchange Cooperation Agreement (BECA), which enables sharing of geo - spatial information between Ministry of Defence and National Geospatial Agency (NGA), USA.
The Indian Navy closely cooperates with the US Navy on numerous issues, which include operational interactions such as the MALABAR and RIMPAC series of exercises, training exchanges, exchange of White Shipping Information and Subject Matter Experts in various fields, all of which are coordinated through the medium of Executive Steering Group (ESG) meetings conducted annually.
In addition, warships from both Navies regularly make port calls at each other’s ports. Both Navies have also been cooperating towards exploring new avenues for collaboration with a shared aim of a ‘Free, Open and inclusive Indo-Pacific.
