Article Posted on : - Jan 25, 2015

WASHINGTON (PTI): With India and the US all set to renew their defence framework agreement for another 10 years, defence trade between the two nations is likely to grow in leaps and bounds, US experts have said.

A top US lawmaker also asserted that defence is going to be the key part of the India US strategic relationship.

"India today is not only a key player in South Asia, but a key player in the world. There are enormous opportunities for the United States and India to work closer together on a whole variety of national security issues," Mac Thornberry, Chairman of the powerful House Armed Services Committee, told the defence writers group early this week.

Thornberry, who visited India a few years ago including the places that were attacked by LeT terrorists in Mumbai in 2008, said defence is going to be a key element in ties.

"There are a whole lot of opportunities on things that we can do together," he said.

"I see US in their defence trade as essentially growing by leaps and bounds in years to come because the Indians have finally discovered that US military technology is second to none," Ashley Tellis of Carnegie Endowment for International Peace said.