India becomes first country to have its special cell inside the Pentagon

Pentagon, the headquarters of the United State’s Department of Defence, has established a special cell to speed up its defence ties with India. The move will speed up the process of co-development and co-production of its hi-tech military equipments.

The India Rapid Reaction Cell (IRRC), which is established soon after Defence Secretary Ashton Carter assumed Pentagon's leadership role, is headed by Keith Webster who is also the director of International co-operation office of the Under Secretary of Defence for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics.

With this move, India has become the first ever country to have a specific cell of its kind inside Pentagon with seven officials, representing various wings of the US department of defence working in collaboration with the cell.

Given the new thrust on India-US defence relationship under Carter, officials say there is quite a few on the waiting list who have shown keen interest for working at the Pentagon's India Rapid Reaction Cell.

"The purpose of India Rapid Reaction Cell is to work all the initiatives that we have ongoing under (India-US) DTTI (Defence Trade and Technology Initiative) - both the initiatives that for example came out of the joint statement between the (US) President and the Prime Minister in January (in New Delhi) to move quickly and timely and be through, which in my opinion requires dedicated support to ramp up the operational tempo," Webster told media agencies.

"We are embarking on some new initiatives and the operational tempo is not declining at all," he said.

As per the reports, a series of high-level exchanges are scheduled to take place in the near future. The procedures might have Indian Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar in Pentagon.

Besides this, the upcoming convention of US President Barack Obama and Indian PM Narendra Modi might host discussions on the defence and strategic relationships between the two countries. The two leaders are scheduled to meet in the UN General Assembly in New York later this month.

Webster also said, "Statistically, such a negotiation between US and India which was done before many times takes on an average a year and half to three years. We were done within three months on the US side with India."

He further added that the documents were finally signed by the Indians last month.

At the same time, other initiatives announced during Obama’s trip to India in January have also been fast-tracked.

In a joint statement, the two countries announced four products for co-produced - next-generation Raven unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), 'roll-on, roll-off' intelligence- gathering and reconnaissance modules for C-130J Super Hercules aircraft, mobile electric hybrid power sources and uniform integrated protection ensemble increment-2 (chemical, biological warfare protection gear for soldiers).

Moreover, the IRRC is also looking into another 25 proposals from American defence industry. These proposals has been received by the cell after Under Secretary of Defence Frank Kendal, US-lead for DTTI, in his letter urged the US industry to come up with proposals for the project by end of August.

"I encourage industry partners to continue identifying opportunities that offer exclusive co-development and/or co-production in India, meet expressed Indian interest, including 'Make in India' and have potential for global market sales," Kendall wrote in his letter.

Webster said after the review of these 25 projects is completed, the Pentagon would submit another set of proposals of pathfinder projects to India in the coming months for co-development and co-production.
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