Senate seeks to enhance defense ties with India
A KEY committee of the US Senate has sought to bolster the defense partnership with India and take it to a new level through greater cooperation in intelligence collection, drones and fourth and fifth generation aircraft.
The move by the powerful Senate Armed Services Committee comes a week after the House of Representatives passed a legislative amendment as part of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) that waived off punitive CAATSA sanctions for India.
NDAA is the annual budget of the US Department of Defense. The House version of NDAA was passed last week. The Senate Armed Services Committee released its version of the NDAA for FY 2023 on Wednesday (20).
It includes a Section on “Enhancing the Major Defense Partnership with India” which envisages greater cooperation in several areas like depot-level maintenance, joint research and development, 5G and Open Radio Access Networks.
The Section also asks the defence secretary to explore other areas for expanding cooperation with India and identify opportunities for the private sector to work with the Ministry of Defense in India.