Monitoring Desk: US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is visiting India and Pakistan next week and will offer MQ-9B Sea Guardian unmanned aerial vehicles, F-18 and F-16 fighter bombers to India, reports Russian media.
According to media reports, United States will offer India MQ-9B Sea Guardian unmanned aerial vehicles, designed for maritime reconnaissance, “aircraft carrier technology”, F-18 and F-16 fighter bombers and other weapons and military equipment to guard South Asian sea.
Tillerson who delivered a keynote speech at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, DC, explained US-India relations in detail and said that center of gravity of the world is shifting towards Indian and Pacific Oceans.
Tillerson during his speech said that New Delhi and Washington should serve as eastern and western lighthouses in the world. He urged New Delhi to make a stake in its foreign policy on developing a strategic partnership with Washington, including counterbalancing the growth of China.
He asked India to use influence in the region to counter China who according to Tillerson is taking “provocative actions in the South China Sea.
During his speech, Tillerson explained how India and the United States were (are) coordinating counter-terrorism efforts in the region and their counterterrorism cooperation has expanded as thousands of Indian security forces have been trained with their American counterparts to strengthen their capabilities to counter terrorism.
