The $10.5 billion arms and equipment deal helped to arrest the recent drift in the 'special and privileged' strategic partnership, observes Brigadier Gurmeet Kanwal (retd).
The Pakistan Army chief arrived in Washington last week on his first official visit to the US.
US Defence Secretary Ashton Carter will sign a fresh 10-year defence framework agreement with India on Wednesday
Gen Kenneth S Wilsbach, commander of the US Pacific Air Forces, said the US side held the interaction behind closed doors with most of the air chiefs of the region.
The permission to allow the Chinese ship comes amid strains in ties between India and Maldives after its new President Mohamed Muizzu came to power and made Beijing as his first port of call early this month after assuming office.
Speaking at a joint press event with Macron, Modi, who is in Paris on a two-day official visit, said a roadmap to strengthen India-France strategic ties over the next 25 years was being prepared with bold and ambitious goals on the anvil.
India and Pakistan on Tuesday failed to agree on the modalities for demilitarisation of Siachen but decided to continue talks to arrive at a solution to one of the major vexed issue.
Now, the NDAA needs to be passed by the Senate before it can be sent to the White House for the US President Donald Trump to sign into law.
Terming the opposition in Parliament over the End User Monitoring Agreement between India and the United States as 'bunkum', former national security advisor Brajesh Mishra said, "We should ask these leaders to address the question: do you want defence equipment from US or not?"He said, "If you want to buy the American agreement, then you will have to agree to the EUMA also. It is up to you to decide what you want."
The relations between the two countries have never been as good as they are now, Trump said, adding that the countries have made "wonderful deal".
Prime Minister Narendra Modi's three-day visit to the US this week was "very, very rich and productive" as significant progress was made in wide range of areas from civil nuclear energy to defence and trade, America's top diplomat in New Delhi has said.
Doval will meet US Defence Secretary James Mattis on March 24, Pentagon spokesman Capt Jeff Davis told reporters, adding that they are likely to discuss a wide range of bilateral security issues and those related to the defence relationship.
Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf will pay a six-day state visit to China from April 10, his first foreign trip since the new coalition government took over, during which several bilateral agreements are expected to be signed. New Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi and Defence Minister Chaudhry Ahmed Mukhtar will accompany Musharraf during the visit. It will also be the first trip abroad by the new ministers.
Signalling both change and continuity, India's new government, headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi for a third consecutive term, got into work gear on Tuesday with cabinet ministers and ministers of state filing into their respective offices to assume charge.
The American platforms at the exercise 'Cope India' that started off Kalaikunda will also include a fleet of F-15 E fighter jets, C-130 and C-17 transport aircraft.
The Mutual Logistics Support Agreement will allow militaries of the two countries to use each other's bases for repair and replenishment of supplies besides facilitating scaling up of overall defence cooperation.
According to the Qatar government, the agreement includes the release of 50 civilian women and children hostages currently held in the Gaza Strip in exchange for the release of a number of Palestinian women and children detained in Israeli prisons, the number of those released will be increased in later stages of implementing the agreement.
When Obama signs the NDAA 2017 into law this week, the US-India partnership will be enshrined in US legislation, binding every succeeding administration, whatever its inclinations, to treat India as a 'major defence partner,' says Ajai Shukla.
Legal hitches appear to have cropped up in the plans to set up two new reactors in the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project and a commercial agreement on it is unlikely to be signed at the Annual Summit between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Monday.
The 18th edition of exercise Yudh Abhyas is scheduled to take place from October 14 to 31, sources in the defence and military establishment said on Wednesday.
Official talks were held between Modi and Seikh Tamim for multi-sectoral partnership and strengthening of Indo-Qatar ties following which the agreements and Memorandums of Understanding were signed on the second day of the Prime Minister's visit.
The armies of India and the US on Tuesday began an over two-week mega military exercise at a military facility in Uttarakhand with the aim of exchanging best practices and tactics in sync with growing defence ties between the two countries.
On the final day of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to the US, that country on Tuesday extended its Defence Cooperation Agreement with India by another 10 years. The pact, which was to expire in June next year, will now be in force till 2025.
India and China on Wednesday signed in all nine agreements, including the Border Defence Cooperation Agreement and one on strengthening cooperation on trans-border rivers, after restricted and delegation-level talks that lasted over two hours as Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Premier Li Keqiang met for the second time this year for talks which the Indian leader described as "fruitful and productive".
Members of his team and industry were right now in India, US Defence Secretary Ash Carter disclosed, 'looking at the potential co-production of fighter aircraft.'
The Seventh Fleet's area of responsibility includes the Western Pacific and Indian Ocean and at any given time there are roughly 5070 ships and submarines, 140 aircraft and approximately 20,000 sailors under its command.
The Uttar Pradesh Defence corridor is estimated to attract Rs 20,000 crore investment and create 250,000 jobs.
In its chargesheet filed before a special court in New Delhi, the CBI has named Raghuvanshi and Pathak as accused in the alleged violation of the Official Secrets Act and related offences, they said.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday said even though India's options have increased, Russia will remain the country's "most important" defence partner as Moscow offered to fully manufacture in this country one of its most advanced helicopters.
China should deepen its defence ties with India, as the agreement reached by the two countries to resume joint military exercises still represented a 'low level of cooperation', the official media said on Wednesday.
GSOMIA does not cover the exchange of classified information with Indian private industry. Washington wanted this covered too, given New Delhi's emphasis on the proposed 'strategic partnership' model of procurement.
The pact is significant as India has been sourcing its military jets from Russia and European consortia.
India on Monday signed a path-breaking broad-based agreement in the civil nuclear field with Russia, which will ensure transfer of technology and uninterrupted uranium fuel supplies to its nuclear reactors, and inked three pacts in the defence sector. The agreements were signed after talks between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev at the Kremlin in Moscow, during which they discussed a whole range of issues.
Carter arrived at INS Dega in Vishakhapatnam and was briefed by top officials about the activities of the Eastern Naval Command.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi was on Tuesday poised to form the government for a third consecutive term with the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance getting a majority in the Lok Sabha, notwithstanding crushing losses in three Hindi heartland states after a bitterly fought election that was projected as a referendum on his popularity.
'In light of the events in Israel, Foreign Minister Cohen decided to cut short his diplomatic visit to India and return to Israel after the meeting with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi that will take place today'
The US remained "watchful" over developments along India's frontier with China as it cannot take its eyes off the regional security issues, a senior American official said on Wednesday against the backdrop of the over 29-month border standoff in eastern Ladakh that has significantly frayed ties between the two neighbours.
'The US and India continue to use their deepening relationship to build new partnerships within and beyond the Indo-Pacific.'
'This award is funded by American money so I took this decision.'
