India and United States Defence & Strategic Relationship

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The dramatic development of the bilateral defence and strategic relationship between India and the United States after the end of the Cold War, through strategic dialogues following Pokhran II and reciprocal visits of two top leaders, along with post-11 September 2001 transformation, reached a new height when the two declared and implemented the Next Steps in Strategic Partner-ship (NSSP) in 2004. Based on common values and interests, the India-United States strategic and defence partner-ship demonstrates in the realms of both security and economic fields. The strategic and defence partnership between Washington and New Delhi has significant implications in South Asia and Indian Ocean Regions. India's links to the Pacific have gradually emerged in the last decade. Initially this was seen in the Look East policy enunciated in the early 1990s. The most visible manifestation of a strategic relationship between two countries is cooperation in the defence sphere. When the Defence Framework Agreement was signed in June 2005, it was widely assumed that the Agreement provided a skeleton that would be fleshed out over a period of time. This book posits that many of the areas of cooperation identified in the Agreement are already “works in progress” and the forward momentum generated at both the political and military levels will only lead to closer defence relations provided the potential pitfalls are identified and avoided, and there is greater clarity on the end-goals of closer defense cooperation. Whilst India's drive in the Indian Ocean remains more noticeable and manifest, this has spilled further eastwards. India has thus become a Pacific player and a factor within the Pacific Asia balance of power.