INDIA has further cemented its military ties with Singapore with its offer for the city state’s armed forces to test missiles and rockets at its integrated test range in Chandipur.
The two nations have also signed a letter of intent that concludes a memorandum of understanding to allow the use of the test range.
According to The Tribune, India tests weapons in its arsenal, such as the long-range Agni series of missiles, at the same test range.
The agreement on this was reached by the defence ministers of the two nations during the 4th Singapore-India Defence Ministers’ Dialogue in Singapore, last week.
Indian Defence Minister Rajnath Singh also offered his counterpart, Ng Eng Hen, the setting up of joint test facilities under the Defence Testing Infrastructure Scheme of India.
The ministers also agreed to explore cooperation in the fields of artificial intelligence, geo-spatial data-sharing and cyber security.
Since 2015, the relationship between the two countries has deepened to encompass military cooperation across all three services of the armed forces, defence technology cooperation as well as cooperation through multilateral engagements.
The new testing facilities will be in addition to other Indian military facilities that Singapore currently uses for training of their mechanised forces, artillery and F-16 fighter jets.
According to the Times of India, bilateral pacts inked over a decade ago allow the Singapore military to carry out exercises of its mechanised forces at Babina, artillery at the Deolali ranges and F-16s at the Kalaikunda airbase on a regular basis.
India has also inked a naval pact with Singapore to access each other’s bases and reciprocal logistics support for warships, as part of the overall policy to steadily build military ties with Asean countries while keeping an eye on China.
The countries also appreciated the growth in cooperation in the maritime domain, having conducted the inaugural edition of the Singapore-India-Thailand Maritime Exercise (Sitmex) in the Andaman Sea last September.
The three sides have agreed to conduct the trilateral maritime exercise involving Singapore, India and Thailand annually from next year.
India said that this exercise underscores the shared responsibility of the countries to work together in keeping sea lines of communications open and strengthening interoperability between the three countries.