US Defence Secretary Lloyd J Austin arrived in India on Friday on a three-day go to, geared toward additional boosting bilateral defence and safety ties within the wake of China’s rising navy assertiveness within the area, together with the Indo-Pacific.
India is the third cease of Austin’s three-nation abroad tour, and the go to is seen as a powerful dedication of the Joe Biden administration to its shut allies and companions within the area.
Ways to additional speed up India-US strategic ties, boosting cooperation within the Indo-Pacific, China’s aggressive behaviour in japanese Ladakh, challenges posed by terrorism and the Afghan peace course of are anticipated to be focus of the talks between the 2 sides, individuals accustomed to the go to preparation and agenda mentioned.
They mentioned India’s plan to obtain round 30 multi-mission armed Predator drones from the US for the three companies at an estimated price of over USD 3 billion can be anticipated to determine within the talks.
The medium-altitude long-endurance (MALE) Predator-B drones, manufactured by US defence main General Atomics, are able to remaining airborne for round 35 hours and may seek out targets at land and sea, they mentioned.
Secretary Austin is predicted to fulfill National Security Advisor Ajit Doval on Friday night whereas he’ll maintain in depth talks with Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Saturday.
He can be more likely to meet External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar.
His go to to India got here days after the highest management of the four-member Quad — India, the US, Japan and Australia — vowed to increase their cooperation within the Indo-Pacific area.
The US defence secretary visited Japan and South Korea earlier than arriving in India.
