India, Japan to upgrade defence cooperation

Two sides sign a Memorandum of Cooperation & Exchanges in the field of defence

Tokyo: India and Japan on Monday decided to "upgrade" and "strengthen" their defence cooperation as they asked officials to launch consultations to promote military equipment collaboration and accelerate discussions on modalities for the sale of Japanese US-2 amphibian aircraft.

The decision to firm-up defence ties came after Prime Minister Narendra Modi held summit-level talks with his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe here. "The two Prime Ministers reaffirmed the importance of defence relations between India and Japan in their strategic partnership and decided to upgrade and strengthen them," a joint statement issued after the talks said.

The two sides signed a Memorandum of Cooperation and Exchanges in the Field of Defence during Prime Minister Modi's five-day visit.

"We intend to give a new thrust and direction to our defence cooperation, including collaboration in defence technology and equipment, given our shared interest in peace and stability and maritime security. We have also decided to expand our cooperation in advanced technology, science and technology, people-to-people exchanges, educational exchanges, etc," Modi said at the joint press briefing with Abe.

Tokyo to sell military equipment to India
Tokyo: The Indian Navy's ability to carry out amphibious landing, casualty evacuation, humanitarian assistance and long-range surveillance and reconnaissance received a major boost today, with Japan agreeing to sell and transfer technology to India to build the specialised sea-plane, the US-2 produced by ShinMaywa.

A joint statement, issued today in Tokyo after the summit meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, said, "Both sides directed the Joint Working Group to accelerate progress in the discussions and preparations for a road map for the development of the Indian aircraft industry through US-2 amphibian aircraft cooperation including the transfer of the aircraft and its technology to India."

In keeping with the Modi government's policy, these planes will be made in India.

This is the first time since World War-II - that ended seven decades ago - that Japan will be selling military hardware. Following its defeat, Japan imposed an embargo on sale of weapons and military equipment.

Japan lifts ban on six Indian entities
Tokyo: Japan lifted ban on HAL and five other Indian entities, which had been imposed in the aftermath of the 1998 nuclear tests, amid Prime Minister Narendra Modi's assertion that cooperation between the two countries in defence and security will get a "new direction".

The lifting of the ban was announced by Modi at his joint media interaction with Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe here after their talks during which they discussed ways to enhance cooperation in various areas to make it Special Strategic and Global Partnership".

Japan has decided to remove ban on some entities," he said.Sources later said the ban had been lifted on six entities, including Hindustan Aeronautics Limited. However, four entities still remain in the banned list. The removal of the ban will enable these companies to have cooperation with Japanese firms, including transfer of technology.