Amid an ongoing conflict with China, India is expected to sign the Basic Exchange Cooperation Agreement (BECA) deal with the United States of America for geospatial cooperation between the two countries.
The defence and foreign ministers of both the countries will sign the agreement during a 2+2 dialogue scheduled to be held on October 26-27 in New Delhi.
"We are hoping to sign the BECA during the meeting between US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Defence Secretary Mark Esper and their Indian counterparts including External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh," said a top government official as reported by ANI.
"The agreement will ensure that the armed forces of the two countries start talking to each other on enhancing geospatial cooperation," he added.
According to ANI, the negotiations between both the countries on the BECA deal had been already completed and are ready to sign the agreement during the 2+2 dialogue.
With BECA, the two countries will be able to share geospatial information and intelligence helpful for defence-related issues, including military accuracy of automated hardware systems and weapons like cruise, ballistic missiles and drones.
India and the US have been working very closely in the field of defence and security. In the last 15 years, India has acquired equipment worth around USD 20 billion from the US including the C-17 Globemasters and the C-130J Super Hercules Special Operations transport aircraft which have become the mainstays of the Indian Air Force's heavy-lift fleet.
India also acquired the American Chinook heavylift and Apache attack helicopters as well as Ultra Light Howitzers from the US. The Navy recently also opted for the American MH-60 Romeo anti-submarine warfare multirole choppers for its requirements.
