The relationship between the United States and India is a priority for the U.S. Government and for the U.S. Department of Defense. The United States and India are natural partners, destined to be closer because of shared interests and values and our mutual desire for a stable and secure world. A strong bilateral partnership is in U.S. interests and benefits both countries. We expect India's importance to U.S. interests to grow in the long-run as India, a major regional and emerging global power, increasingly assumes roles commensurate with its position as a stakeholder and a leader in the international system.

U.S.-India engagement on shared security interests is a topic of interest to the U.S. Congress, where there is considerable support for a deepened U.S. partnership with the world's largest democracy. Congressional advocacy of closer relations with India is generally bipartisan and widespread; House and Senate caucuses on India and Indian-Americans are the largest of their kind. Caucus leaders have encouraged the Obama Administration to work toward improving the compatibility of the U.S. and Indian defense acquisitions systems, as well as to seek potential opportunities for co-development or co-production of military weapons systems with India. In a report accompanying the FY2012 Defense Authorization (S.Rept. 112-26), the Senate Armed Services Committee expressed its belief that a deepened strategic partnership with India will be critical to the promotion of core mutual national interests in the 21st century.

The U.S.-India relationship has fluctuated from mutual suspicion to the current high-water mark of cooperation embodied in the seemingly close relationship between U.S. president Barack Obama and Indian prime minister Narendra Modi. This study seeks to identify the opportunities to deepen security cooperation between the two counties, while ensuring continued effort to reduce the obstacles and impediments in each system to working with the other.

U.S.-India engagement on shared security interests is a topic of interest to the U.S. Congress, where there is considerable support for a deepened U.S. partnership with the world's largest democracy. Congressional advocacy of closer relations with India is generally bipartisan and widespread; House and Senate caucuses on India and Indian-Americans are the largest of their kind. Caucus leaders have encouraged the Obama Administration to work toward improving the compatibility of the U.S. and Indian defense acquisitions systems, as well as to seek potential opportunities for co-development or co-production of military weapons systems with India. This report reviews the major facets of U.S.-India security relations with a focus on military-to-military contacts, counterterrorism and intelligence cooperation, and defense trade.

This book deals with the evolution, current status and potential of U.S.-India strategic cooperation. From very modest beginnings, the U.S.-India strategic partnership has developed significantly over the last decade. In considerable part, this growth has stemmed from overlapping concerns about the rise and assertiveness of the People’s Republic of China, as well as the instability of Pakistan. Despite the emergence of this partnership, significant differences remain, some of which stem from Cold War legacies, others from divergent global strategic interests and institutional design. In spite of these areas of discord, the overall trajectory of the relationship appears promising. Increased cooperation and closer policy coordination underscore a deepening of the relationship, while fundamental differences in national approaches to strategic challenges demand flexibility and compromise in the future.

In this edited book, leading scholars and analysts trace the origins, evolution and the current state of Indo-US strategic cooperation. During the Cold War, owing to opposing grand strategies, the two states frequently found themselves at odds. With the end of the Cold War and the demise of the Soviet Union, Indo-US security cooperation started in a fitful fashion, but in recent years it has acquired considerable stability. The armed forces of the two states have participated in exercises on land, sea and air and have also carried out joint humanitarian missions. Drawing on new information and with contributions from both academics and policy makers, this wide-ranging volume analyzes the strategic convergence of the world’s two largest democracies, whilst explaining why important differences do remain. These notably include questions pertaining to the future of India’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs, US-Pakistan ties and India’s links with Iran. This volume will be of great interest to students of South Asian politics, Asian security, US foreign policy and security studies in general.