President Obama, PM Narendra Modi to work towards an enhanced Indo-US defence cooperation

NEW DELHI: India and the US today broke the 7-year-old logjam in operationalising their landmark civil nuclear deal besides deciding to jointly produce military hardware including advanced unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) during talks between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Barack Obama.

In what Obama called a "breakthrough", the two sides resolved key hurdles pertaining to the liability of suppliers of nuclear reactors in the event of an accident and the tracking of fuel supplied by the US.

"We have broken the logjam of the past few years. We have reached an agreement. The deal is done," Foreign Secretary Sujatha Singh announced after extended discussions between Obama and Modi lasting more than three hours, marked by great bonhomie.

The two countries renewed an enhanced Defence Framework Agreement for the next ten years and identified four key "pathfinder projects" for joint development and production including the next generation Raven mini UAVs and specialised kits for C-130 military transport aircraft.

Both countries also agreed on a Working Group to explore aircraft carrier technology besides designing and development of jet engine technology.