• India and the U.S. are cooperating to prevent all forms of terrorism both from land and sea, U.S. Chief of naval operations .
• The Admiral, who was in India earlier this week on a three-day visit Navy chief Admiral Sunil Lanba were especially concerned by the threat “coming from the sea”.

BACKGROUND:

• The foundational agreement, Communications Compatibility and Security Agreement (COMCASA), which India signed last year would enable exchange of information on such threats.
• With COMCASA, India has signed three of the four foundational agreements with the U.S., and discussions are under way on the final one, Basic Exchange and Cooperation Agreement for Geo-spatial Cooperation (BECA).
• COMCASA allows India to procure specialised equipment for encrypted communications from the U.S. origin military platforms.
• Two warships, INS Kolkata and INS Shakti, are also participating in IMDEX as also several Indian engineering and ship-building firms, including the Larsen & Toubro and the BrahMos aerospace corporation.
• After IMDEX, the Indian ships along with a Navy P-8I long range maritime surveillance aircraft will participate in the 26th edition of the Singapore India Maritime Bilateral Exercise (SIMBEX) scheduled from May 16 to 22.
• SIMBEX is the longest uninterrupted naval exercise that India has with any other country.