Ready To Help Meet India’s Defence Needs But S-400 Deal Could Limit Cooperation, Says US

The United States has said that it is ready to help India in meeting its defence needs with the latest technologies and equipment, but New Delhi’s purchase of S-400 missile defence system from Russia would ‘limit’ cooperation, reports Zee News.

Earlier, on many occasions, the US had expressed its concerns over India’s deal to procure the lethal missile shield from Russia saying that the deal will have serious implications on the India-US defence ties.

On Thursday (13 June), during an appearance before the Congressional sub-committee, US State Department’s senior official (South and Central Asian Affairs) Alice G Wells told that the US now does more military exercises with India than any other country.

"Under the Trump administration, we've been very clear that we're ready to help meet India's defence needs and we are seeking a very different kind of defence partnership building on the 'Major Defence Partner' designation that India has received from Congress," Wells said replying to a question on India buying Russian S-400.

Wells noted that India going ahead with S-400 deal was concerning as it could effectively limit India's ability "to increase our own interoperability".

Earlier, in October 2018, after wide-ranging talks between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin, India and Russia had inked the $5 billion S-400 air defence system deal while Putin’s visit to New Delhi.