(As Defence Minister, Manohar Parrikar visits US and it’s being speculated that India and US could sign the Logistics Exchange Memorandum of Agreement (LEMOA), The Quint is re-publishing a piece from its archives on the contentious defence pact and its strategic importance. The article was first published on 11 April 2016.)
The current visit to India (April 10-12) of US Defence Secretary, Ashton Carter, which began in Goa has been described by him as a “strategic handshake”. It is expected that the uneven bilateral defence cooperation, first mooted more than 20 years ago after the end of the Cold War, will now be firmly rooted in tangible long-term projects that will enhance India’s composite military capability.
Dr Carter is an experienced defence official and no stranger to India. Over the years, he has been identified with the technology transfer initiative, now formalised between the two countries as the DTTI – the Defence Technology and Trade Initiative. This programme naturally complements the Modi government’s ‘Make in India’ focus, and will hopefully enhance India’s very modest indigenous defence production capacity.
However, in as much as there has been earnest rhetorical commitment between the two countries, actual progress on the ground remains limited and the tactical dissonance over other issues poses a challenge to the realisation of the ‘strategic handshake’ goal.