Indian Vice Chief visits US to enhance military cooperation

New Delhi, Aug 15 (IANS) Indian Army Vice Chief Lieutenant General C.P. Mohanty left for the US on Sunday to enhance military cooperation between the two countries.

"The aim of the visit is to enhance bilateral military cooperation and explore future avenues for military-to-military defence partnership," Indian Army said.

The Vice Chief will attend the multilateral Chiefs of Defence Conference, being held in Hawaii, which will be marked by discussions on three important topics: how Covid-19 will change national security forever; role of minilateralism in a free and open Indo-Pacific; and challenges and opportunities of technology enabled threats.

In the course of the visit, Lt. Gen. C.P. Mohanty will also interact with the senior military leadership of the countries attending the Chiefs of the Defence Conference.

Later, the Indian Vice Chief will travel to Washington DC and interact with senior military leaders and civilian officials of the Department of Defense of the US.

He will also visit the Program Executive Office (PEO) Soldier and witness innovations in close combat squads, Soldier Survivability, Soldier Lethality, Soldier Manouever and Precision Targeting and Integrated Visual Augmentation System.

"The meetings are aimed at increasing military to military cooperation between the two countries," the force said.

India and the US share close defence cooperation with Washington authorising over $20 billion in defence sales to India.