India and Japan today expressed satisfaction over the progress made by the two sides in the Joint Working Group on the US2 amphibious aircraft and said the group will hold another meeting in March.
"The two Prime Ministers expressed satisfaction with the holding of the 1st meeting of the Joint Working Group (JWG) on the US-2 amphibian aircraft in December 2013 in Delhi and welcomed the 2nd meeting of the JWG which is scheduled for March 2014 in Japan," the two sides said in a joint statement.
The statement was issued after a meeting between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe.
Also Read
The aircraft was offered to India as part of the first ever defence sale by the Japanese side in a long time to meet Indian Navy's requirements to look after its Island territories.
Japan is pushing for over-the-counter sale of the US-2 aircraft produced by ShinMaywa Industries Ltd, which has a range of about 4,500 km and is suitable for search-and-rescue operations.
The US-2 is also capable of carrying sensitive communications equipment. This aircraft usually has the capability of landing on choppy waters with waves of up to three metres, apart from having long-range civilian and military applications.
India wants a joint production of the aircraft and wants it to be armed, over which Japan is believed to have some apprehensions.
