Even as India prepares to test its own fledgling ballistic missile defence (BMD) system for the third time “within a month or so”, New Delhi and Washington are moving towards signing a memorandum of understanding (MoU) in the BMD arena.
The Times of India
Sources told TOI on Thursday that some rounds of talks on “possible collaboration on BMD or missile shield systems to enhance cooperative security and stability” have been held between India and US in recent times.
“Most of these discussions have taken place under the Joint Technical Group, a sub-group of the overall Indo-US Defence Policy Group architecture. The US is very keen to work with us in the missile defence arena. A formal MoU is now on the cards,” said a source.
But the MoU does not mean that India is signing up for a proposed American missile defence shield programme on the lines of Poland and the Czech Republic, which has led to a major diplomatic row between US and Russia in recent months.
Instead, the plan is to seek some missile defence technical know-how from the US. As part of this, Indian officials and scientists have already witnessed some simulations and a couple of live tests of the US missile defence system. The US, of course, has even offered to sell the Patriot Advanced Capability-3 (PAC-3) system to India.
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