Trump to visit India, Pentagon clears air defence system for New Delhi

[TamilNet, Monday, 10 February 2020, 23:56 GMT]
The US President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump will be visiting New Delhi later this month on February 24-25, 2020, according to a news release issued by the White House on Monday. “The President and The First Lady will travel to New Delhi and Ahmedabad, which is in Prime Minister Modi’s home state of Gujarat and played such an important role in Mahatma Gandhi’s life and leadership of the Indian independence movement,” the news release noted. In the meantime, US Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) also issued a statement stating that it had cleared a deal of Integrated Air Defence Weapon System (IADWS) at an estimated cost of $1.867 billion with India, on Monday.

The DSCA administers security cooperation programs that support US policy interests and objectives identified by the White House, Department of Defense, and Department of State.

The US President and Indian Prime Minister agreed that the trip would “further strengthen the United States-India strategic partnership,” the White House release said.

The two populist leaders shared a stage in an event known as “Howdy, Modi” in Houston, Texas, in September 2019, when the Indian PM visited the USA.

“In 2005, the US government rejected Modi, at the time chief minister of Gujarat, for a visa to visit the United States over his actions during anti-Muslim riots in 2002,” observed the New York Post while reporting the scheduled visit of the US President to Gujarat.

In the recent years, India and the US have moved closer towards forging a military alliance, Quad, with Japan and Australia as the other two partners to checkmate China in the Indo-Pacific.

External Links:

DSCA:		India – IADWS and Related Equipment and Support
TheDefensePost:		US approves $1.9 billion sale to India of Integrated Air Defense Weapon System

Chronology: