Boost to naval cooperation with INS Satpura visit
THE COOPERATION between the navies of India and the US is one of the most dynamic and significant components of the bilateral defence ties, India's envoy has said, underlining that the defence sector has emerged as a major pillar between the two countries.
Ambassador Taranjit Singh Sandhu's remarks came during the historic visit of INS Satpura to San Diego last week.
INS Satpura is an indigenously designed and built 6000-tonne guided missile stealth frigate equipped to seek and destroy adversaries in air, surface, and underwater.
This is for the first time that an Indian Naval Warship docked itself on the US West Coast and maybe two decades after that an Indian ship came to the US.
‘Navy-to-Navy cooperation is one of the most dynamic and significant components of our defence partnership. This is strengthening further, in the context of the Indo-Pacific,' Sandhu said in his remarks last week in San Diego.
‘The expanding scope of engagements, with the US Navy, especially the annual Malabar series of exercises, and the multinational engagements, such as MILAN 22 and the recently concluded RIMPAC 22, (that I had the opportunity to attend), reinforces our trust and interoperability at sea,' he said aboard INS Satpura.
The reception among others was attended by Secretary of Navy Carlos Del Toro, Vice Admiral Kenneth Ray Whitsell, Commander of Naval Air Forces.
In 2016, the US recognised India as a ‘Major Defence Partner' under which Washington will continue to work toward facilitating technology sharing with India to a level commensurate with that of its closest allies and partners.