Washington: The United States is keen to partner with India in its defence modernisation drive, the Pentagon has said amidst calls from the Indian armed forces for involving private sector in developing country's defence infrastructure and a strong manufacturing base.
"As we've often noted, we want India to have all of the capabilities it needs to meet its security needs and we want to be a key partner in that effort," the Defence Department spokesman, Jeffrey S Pool, told PTI.
"It's encouraging to see a call for changes to the FDI limits, and we continue to welcome greater private sector involvement as well," Pool said.
Pool was responding to question on a recent statement by the Air Marshal PP Reddy VM, DG (Inspection & Safety) of the Indian Air Force that Indian industry requires tax holidays and more industry friendly import and export regimes.
Research and Development funds should also be made available to the private sector companies, the IAF official had said early this week at the inaugural Session of 8th International Conference on Energising Indian Aerospace Industry in New Delhi.
The United States has already placed India in the category of 'closest partners' for defence cooperation.
The Joint Declaration on Defence Cooperation arrived at between the two sides in September says that they "look forward to the identification of specific opportunities for cooperative and collaborative projects in advanced defence technologies and systems, within the next year".
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