During Taiana’s visit, India and Argentina agreed to the signing of a new Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) and a training agreement to further consolidate defence partnership…reports Asian Lite News
India and Argentina continue to deepen defence ties and enhance the ongoing strategic partnership that unites both countries following the India visit of Argentine Defence Minister Jorge Enrique Taiana, last month.
Earlier this week, Francisco Cafiero, Secretary International Affairs of Argentina’s Ministry of Defence, met Indian Ambassador to Argentina Dinesh Bhatia in Buenos Aires to “plan the work for the coming months” as far as bilateral cooperation agenda in the defence area is concerned.
Cafiero had accompanied Taiana on the July 17-20 India visit during which both countries signed a Letter of Intent (LoI) on productive cooperation and acquisition of Light and Medium Utility Helicopters for the Argentine armed forces.
The Indian Embassy in the Argentine capital said that Cafiero and Bhatia discussed “harnessing true potential” of strategic partnership for collaboration and partnerships in defence hardware, technologies and high-tech equipment.
During Taiana’s visit, India and Argentina agreed to the signing of a new Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) and a training agreement to further consolidate defence partnership between the two countries.
“We are here to perfect and deepen the agreements we have and sign some others. One of them is a Memorandum of Understanding that is richer in content and concrete possibilities than the one currently in force,” said Taiana after meeting Defence Minister Rajnath Singh in New Delhi.
He added: “I think we have a concrete opportunity in the field of Defence, where we can give a quality leap in cooperation between the two countries”.
As reported by IndiaNarrative.com, immediately after landing in India, Taiana toured the BrahMos Aerospace facility in New Delhi and met with the Indo-Russian aerospace and defence corporation’s CEO and Managing Director Atul Dinkar Rane.
India’s state-of-the-art modern fourth-generation Tejas fighter jet has also for long been in contention for Buenos Aires’ order of 12 fighter jets.
It is believed that New Delhi is offering a modified variant of the LCA Tejas Mk1A to Argentina with the replacement of parts manufactured in the United Kingdom, thus keeping it way ahead in the race – that also includes major competitors including Pakistan’s JF-17 fighter jets developed jointly with China, South Korea’s FA-50, Russia’s MiG-35 and the US F-16s.
Later, as the Argentine defence delegation travelled to Bengaluru, Taiana signed a LoI with Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) Chairman and Managing Director C B Ananthakrishnan on productive cooperation and acquisition of Light and Medium Utility Helicopters for the Argentine armed forces.
Argentina, which has been looking at renewal of its helicopter fleet, expressed its interest in incorporating the Light Utility Helicopter (LUH) and the Advanced Light Helicopter (ALH) model through a productive cooperation project.
HAL already has agreements in place with the Argentine Air Force for the maintenance of the engines of its Lama helicopters and with the Argentine Aircraft Factory (FAdeA) for joint development in the aerospace sector.