New Delhi
India and the United States on Thursday inked a vital agreement that will allow seamless exchange of information between the militaries of the two countries.

A Communications Compatibility and Security Agreement was inked at the Indo-US 2+2 dialogue – a meeting of the Indian External Affairs minister and the Defence Minister with their US counterparts.

The COMCASA will facilitate access to advanced defence systems and enable India to optimally utilise its existing US origin platforms. It will especially be useful as the maritime surveillance planes like the Boeing P8- I will get a real time picture that is available to US planes. This will be useful in tracking Chinese submarines as they enter the Indian Ocean. Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said: “It will enable India to access advanced technologies from the US and enhance India’s defence preparedness”.

A joint statement said India and US are committed to the creation of a new, tri-services exercise and to further increase personnel exchanges between the two militaries and defence organisations. The ministers reviewed the recent growth of bilateral engagements in support of maritime security and maritime domain awareness, and committed to expand cooperation.

In another important development the two countries committed to start exchanges between the US Naval Forces Central Command and the Indian Navy, underscoring the importance of deepening their maritime cooperation in the western Indian Ocean.

The two countries will begin negotiations on an Industrial Security Annex that would support closer defence industry cooperation and collaboration.

United States committed to expand the scope of India’s Major defence partner status and take mutually agreed upon steps to strengthen defence ties further and promote better defence and security coordination and cooperation. They noted the rapid growth in bilateral defence trade and the qualitative improvement in levels of technology and equipment offered by the United States to India in recent years.