This Article is From Oct 27, 2020

What BECA, Key Defence Agreement, Means For India, US: 10-Point Guide

BECA will allow the US to share top-secret satellite and sensor data that would help India in selecting military targets.

What BECA, Key Defence Agreement, Means For India, US: 10-Point Guide

BECA is the fourth and final "foundational" understanding the US has with India.

New Delhi: India and the United States will sign a number of key defence agreements, most notably BECA, during the 2+2 India-US ministerial dialogue today. Long in the making, Basic Exchange and Cooperation Agreement or BECA will allow India to gain access to precision data and topographical images - on a real time basis - from United States military satellites.

Here's your 10-point cheatsheet to this big story:

  1. BECA is the fourth and final "foundational" understanding the US has with India.

  2. The two countries have already signed General Security of Military Information Agreement (2002), Logistics Exchange Memorandum of Agreement (2016), Communications Compatibility and Security Agreement (2018) to exchange military logistics and enable secure communications.

  3. BECA will give India access to classified geo-spatial data as well as critical information having significant military applications.

  4. Under BECA, the two countries can exchange maps, nautical and aeronautical charts, commercial and other unclassified imagery, geophysical, geomagnetic and gravity data.

  5. The agreement will allow the US to share sensitive satellite and sensor data that would help India in striking military targets with pinpoint accuracy.

  6. India will be able to keep a close watch on the movements of Chinese warships in the Indian Ocean.

  7. In the case of Pakistan, if there is ever another air strike similar to the one like Balakot, India will be able to access satellite and other data from the US to verify the success of its hits.

  8. In a statement released on Monday the government said Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and his American counterpart, Mr Esper, expressed satisfaction that BECA would be signed during this visit and also at the close engagements between the armed forces of the two countries.

  9. The UPA government had raised concerns over BECA over concerns on protection of classified information and access to classified laboratories in India.

  10. These concerns were addressed after multiple rounds of talks between New Delhi and Washington DC. The ties between the two countries - which is at an all-time-high -- is also said to have helped the two countries reach the agreement.



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