US for deepening Indo-US defence ties, regional cooperation

The United States today underlined its deepening defence ties with India after the landmark visit of President Barack Obama to New Delhi last year, as Washington saw "great potential" in furthering bilateral cooperation in East Asia.

A deal with Indian Air Force (IAF) to provide 126 aircraft worth $11 billion would revolutionize military relationship between the United States and India, a senior Washington official said here.

The deal would highlight "our willingness to share with India the most advanced technologies," said Geoffrey R. Pyatt, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary at the Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs of the US State Department.

Speaking at the US-India-Singapore Business Forum here, he said two American companies were competing for the tender for the new Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft being sourced by IAF.

Elaborating on the strategic partnership between the two countries, Pyatt said: "One area of US-India cooperation in which we see great potential is furthering India's engagement with East Asia – working together to strengthen the bonds that tie our nations, the world's largest and oldest democracies, with the economic and social dynamism that exists from Seoul to Jakarta, and from Singapore to Manila."

On the issue of deepening defence ties between the two nations, he said the first of the six C-130J transport aircraft was delivered last week to IAF under a separate deal signed in 2008.

The IAF also has future potential for further cooperation in acquiring the aircraft which demonstrates India's resolve to build a military capacity that matches its expanding strategic horizons for global interests, said Pyatt in remarks presented at the forum on the impact of President Obama's visit to India and East Asia last November.

Pyatt underlined India's growing role in the Asia Pacific region. As the fulcrum of geopolitics moves to Asia, India plays a critical role in the US strategy, Pyatt added.

"India, of course, has long been an Asian power in its own right – and the signs of India's cultural influence can be seen throughout the region," said Pyatt.

He said Washington welcome the fact that other large Asia Pacific democracies – Indonesia, Japan, Australia, and South Korea – were also engaging more closely with New Delhi and cooperating in more systematically on security issues.