Sharing of military logistics on cards, Defence Minister leaves for US

28 August, New Delhi

Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar left for Washington DC Sunday for three day official visit to the US, during which an agreement on sharing military logistics is likely to be signed.

Parrikar would have bilateral talks with his US counterpart Ashton Carter tomorrow on entire gamut of defence ties between the two countries including the unmanned drone systems for the Indian Armed forces and progress in talks on jet engine technology. A joint statement is likely to be issued after the defence ministerial level talks, sources in the Defence Ministry said.

According to his programme for August 29-30, Mr Parrikar will visit number of military installations including a tour to cyber command, a visit to Andrews Air Force base followed by a tour to Langley Air Force base.

The Defence Minister will travel to Philadelphia to visit the facility of Boeing, which has a major stake in India’s defence sector. During Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the US in June this year, both sides had announced the finalisation of the text of the Logistics Exchange Memorandum of Agreement (LEMOA).

Both the sides had expressed satisfaction over the enhanced military to military cooperation especially in joint exercises, training and Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HA/DR).