New Delhi:
US Defence Secretary Leon Panetta today met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and National Security Advisor Shivshankar Menon. They discussed ways to strengthen the military relations between the two countries.
Mr Panetta, will hold detailed talks with the Defence Minister AK Antony at a delegation-level meeting to be held tomorrow.
"During the meeting, the ongoing defence cooperation and regional security situation will figure prominently," the Defence Ministry said in a release.
The two sides are expected to talk about the security scenario in Afghanistan and Pakistan and the situation after the US troop withdrawal from there in 2014. China is also expected to figure in the discussions
The Indian side is also expected to take up the issue of the denial of dual-use items by the US to the laboratories under the DRDO (Defence Research and Development Organisation).
The issue had also been discussed earlier at the meetings of the Defence Policy Group, where India demanded that the definition of dual-use items should be reviewed by the US authorities.
America's plans and decision to shift a bulk of its naval fleet including as many as six aircraft carriers to the Pacific by 2020 as part of new strategic focus on Asia can also come up for discussion.
The US side is also likely to push India to sign the long-pending agreements such as the CISMOA and LSA but it is believed that New Delhi will not change its position on the agreements.
During the talks, the American side is also expected to seek help from India in carrying out search operations in the north eastern areas for locating the bodies of its pilots and soldiers missing in the World War II. The US has been raising this issue with India in its earlier meetings also.