India, America sign defense agreement

NEW DELHI: India and the United States have sealed an agreement to jointly develop protective gear for soldiers against biological and chemical warfare, and another on building generators, defense officials said on Wednesday. The projects were cleared as US Defense Secretary Ash Carter held talks with Indian leaders to expand security ties between the countries that were on opposite sides of the Cold War but have since drawn closer against the rising weight of China. The United States has become one of the top sources of weapons for the Indian military, upstaging Russia in recent years, and now under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “Make-in-India” program offered joint development and production of military technologies. While the two projects approved are modest in scale, India and the United States are also exploring collaboration at the higher end of technology, Carter told reporters.   REUTERS