During the conversation, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh recalled strong bilateral defence relations between the two nations

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday held talks with United States Acting Secretary of Defence Christopher C Miller and discussed issues of bilateral defence cooperation.

During the conversation, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh called the year 2020 as the landmark year in the India-US defence relationship.

Informing about the same on twitter, he wrote, “Spoke on phone to the US Acting Secretary of Defence Mr Christopher C. Miller today. India-US partnership in the field of Defence sector has matured into a strategic nature over the last decade.The year 2020 was a landmark year in the India-US defence relationship,” he added further.


Referring to the signing of the Basic Exchange and Cooperation Agreement (BECA) between the two countries in October this year, he said that the agreement reflects a ‘powerful signal’ of the future direction of high-end cooperation for capability enhancement between the two nations.

Over the years, he said, the strong foundation of the relations of two nations has been laid.

“India-US were able to sign the historic agreements this year. Conclusion of the BECA is a powerful signal of our future direction of high-end cooperation for capability enhancement. A strong foundation has been laid for the India-US relations over the years,” he wrote on twitter.

Overall, the issues related to strategic cooperation between the two nations were discussed, several media reports said.

The relationship between India and the US has been accelerated in the past few months. From signing several agreements of defence cooperation to together countering the common threat, China, the relationship has seen an upswing.

The relations between the two were further enhanced in October when they signed BECA which allows the defence forces of both nations to share high-end military technology, logistics and geospatial maps.

Similarly, in 2016, the two nations signed the Logistics Exchange Memorandum of Agreement (LEMOA) allowing the militaries of both nations to use each other’s repair and replenishment of supplies as well as providing for deeper cooperation.

It was the same year when the US had designated India as its ‘Major Defence Partner’ opening doors to an array of opportunities in the defence sector between the two nations.

Again in 2018, the two nations signed Communications Compatibility and Security Agreement (COMCASA) enabling interoperability between the two militaries and sale of high-end technology from the US to India.

In 2020, the navies of both nations held joint maritime exercises, first the PASSEX and then the Malabar Exercise 2020 in which all the members of Quad Grouping namely India, the US, Japan and Australia participated in order to take ahead their agenda of a rule-based Indo-Pacific.