General Rawat’s maiden visit to US follows closely on the heels of his visit to Russia last week. …reports Asian Lite News
India’s Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat, who is on a visit to the United States, on Wednesday met with Major General Xavier T. Brunson, Commanding General, I Corps, US Army and discussed issues of bilateral defence cooperation.
The meeting took place at the Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington DC, the Indian Army said on Twitter.
While in the US, General Rawat will be meeting his counterpart – Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff General Mark Milley – and other American military leadership at the Pentagon.
India and the US have been coming closer militarily in the last few years and have been holding multiple military exercises and hardware cooperation.
General Rawat’s maiden visit to US follows closely on the heels of his visit to Russia last week.
During his two-day Russia visit, the Chief of Defence Staff attended the conference of the Chiefs of General Staff of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) in Orenburg in Russia. He also interacted with the Russian top military brass.
Defence relationship has emerged as a major pillar of India-US strategic partnership with the signing of ‘New Framework for India-U.S. Defense Relations’ in 2005 and the resulting intensification in defence trade, joint exercises, personnel exchanges, collaboration and cooperation in maritime security and counter-piracy, and exchanges between each of the three services.
The Defence Framework Agreement was updated and renewed for another 10 years in June 2015.
The two countries now conduct more bilateral exercises with each other than they do with any other country.
Bilateral dialogue mechanisms in the field of defence include Defence Policy Group (DPG), Defence Joint Working Group (DJWG), Defence Procurement and Production Group (DPPG), Senior Technology Security Group (STSG), Joint Technical Group (JTG), Military Cooperation Group (MCG), and Service-to-Service Executive Steering Groups (ESGs). (India News Network)
