Indo-US Defence Cooperation and the Emerging Strategic Relationship

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 article 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 defence cooperation.