India-US defence ties closest ever: US defence secretary

TIL Desk World/Washington/ Days ahead of his visit to India, US Defence Secretary Ashton Carter today said that the defence relationship between the world’s two largest democracies has never been as close as it is now.

“The US-India defence relationship is the closest it’s ever been. Through our strategic handshake with America reaching west in the rebalance, and India reaching east in what Prime Minister Narendra Modi calls his Act East policy our two nations are exercising together by air, land, and sea like never before,” Carter said.

“We also have a technological handshake as the US-India Defence Technology and Trade Initiative, or DTTI, grasps hands with Prime Minister Modi’s Make in India campaign that’s helping our countries move toward more diverse co-development and co-production of weapons systems,” he said.

As he begins his last overseas tour from the Asia Pacific region, Carter reflected on the rebalance strategy of President Barack Obama.