India, US hold 19th Military Cooperation Meeting (MCG)

The 19th edition of India-US Military Cooperation Group (MCG) meeting was held in Agra on March 1-2. 

The India-US MCG is a forum established to take forward defence cooperation between the countries through regular talks at the strategic and operational levels between headquarters, Integrated Defence Staff and the US Indo-Pacific Command.

The discussions focussed on strengthening the ongoing defence engagements between the two sides and mulled on new initiatives under the ambit of existing cooperation mechanism.

India-US defence cooperation

• The Indo-US defence ties have been on an upswing in the last few years.

• Defence relationship has emerged as a major pillar of India-US Strategic Partnership with intensification in defence trade, joint exercises, personnel exchanges, and cooperation in maritime security and counter-piracy.

• A key pact called General Security of Military Information Agreement (GSOMIA) was signed by the two countries in 2002. The GSOMIA provides for specific measures to ensure security standards for safeguarding critical information shared by the US with India.

• India-US defence cooperation is based on “New Framework for India-US Defence Cooperation”, which was renewed in 2015 for a period of 10 years.

• In June 2016, the US recognised India as a ‘Major Defence Partner’ to facilitate technology sharing to a level commensurate with that of its allies and partners. 

• India’s elevation to Tier-I of the Strategic Trade Authorisation (STA) license exception in 2018 facilitates interaction in advanced and sensitive technologies.  

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)

• Service-to-Service Executive Steering Groups (ESGs).

• Defence procurements from the US have been an area of steady growth in the last decade. India has procured defence items of around $21 billion from the US since 2008. The defence procurement activities are monitored through the Defence Production and Procurement Group.

• Under the US-India Defence Technology and Trade Initiative (DTTI), Joint Working Groups on land, naval, air, and aircraft carrier technologies have been established to focus on mutually agreed projects in respective domains.

• India-US 2+2 Ministerial Dialogue, led by the heads of foreign and defence ministries of both countries, reviews the bilateral ties in defence, strategic and security domains as well as important regional and global issues.

• The two countries have also inked key defence and security pacts over the past few years. 

Some of them are:

• The Logistics Exchange Memorandum of Agreement (LEMOA) signed in August 2016 allows their militaries to use each other’s bases for repair and replenishment of supplies as well as provides for deeper cooperation.

• COMCASA (Communications Compatibility and Security Agreement) signed in 2018 provides for interoperability between the two militaries and the sale of high-end technology from the US to India.

• In October 2020, India and the US sealed the BECA (Basic Exchange and Cooperation Agreement) agreement to further boost bilateral defence ties. The pact provides for sharing of high-end military technology, logistics and geospatial maps between the two countries.

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