Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Sunday visited the William B. Morgan Large Cavitation Channel, located at the Naval Surface Warfare Centre in the United States, as India explores the possibility of hosting similar advanced facilities locally.
The Naval Surface Warfare Centre is among the largest and most advanced water tunnel facilities in the world. Mr Singh was shown around, with extensive briefings at the center and its tunnel, which tests UGM-84 Harpoon, torpedoes, naval surface vessels, and propellers.
He was accompanied by the Indian Ambassador to the US, Director General of the Indian Navy, naval operations personnel, and defence technology experts from the Defence Research and Development Organisation.
The visit was facilitated through the US Navy's Deputy Under Secretary, who received Singh warmly. Detailed briefings were provided by the Commander and Technical Director, Naval Surface Warfare Center, the Defence Ministry said.
The delegation had visited to discuss areas of possible cooperation between India and the US in setting up such facilities in India, with emphasis on indigenous design and development.
Singh turned to social media platform X and described his experience: "Visited Naval Surface Warfare Centre at Carderock and witnessed the pathbreaking experiments being done there. India and US look forward to collaborate and learn from each other's experiences."
Apart from the above, Singh met some top US defence companies like Boeing, GE, General Atomics, General Dynamics Land Systems, L3 Harris, Lockheed Martin, Raytheon Technologies, Rolls-Royce, Thales, among others.
The four-day visit to Washington was extended by US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin, featuring a bilateral discussion with his American counterpart, and also a sit-down with the US National Security Adviser, Jake Sullivan.
The visit comes in the backdrop of an increasingly symbiotic relationship that India and the US are developing with each other in defense matters, and will further solidify the strategic partnership between the two nations. Singh also led a high-level roundtable discussion with the US defense industry on current and future defense collaborations.
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