At the recently concluded 2+2 dialogue between India and US, an agreement for COMCASA has stolen all the limelight. Being concluded after almost 15 years of negotiations, inking of COMCASA is being viewed as one of the significant milestones in the Indo-US Relations.
As the higher echelons of the Indian and US administration met for the maiden 2+2 dialogue in New Delhi on September 7, at the centre stage of discussions, both in the meetings between the foreign affairs and defence officials, was to find a way forward towards energising India’s ‘Major Defence Partner (MDP)’ status. Since the elevation of India as a MDP in 2016 by the US Congress, both the strategic partners have invested great efforts towards introducing a fully functional framework to make the most of the MDP status benefits.
While the partners have been working towards this framework, a slew of issues that are derailing satisfactory progress have cropped up. At the helm of these issues has been the missing basic foundational agreements, which are a precursor for any country to be able to have access to US-developed and manufactured cutting-edge defence technology.
After sustained and intense negotiations, the strategic partners on the sidelines of the inaugural 2+2 dialogue concluded the text for COMCASA, second of the three basic foundational agreements, marking an important milestone in the Indo-US bilateral relationship. Conclusion of the Communications Compatibility and Security Agreement (COMCASA) comes within years of India and the USA concluding the Logistics Exchange Memorandum Agreement (LEMOA), first of four foundational agreements.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo addressing the media after conclusion of the agreement, said “We know our peoples’ ability to exercise their economic and personal freedoms depends on a strong and stable security environment. To that end, today our two countries enter into an ambitious plan to elevate our security cooperation across a number of areas. The Communications Compatibility and Security Agreement is a major step forward in our defence collaboration and coordination. It will allow us to better protect the freedom and prosperity of the Indo-Pacific.”
COMCASA, an Indian specific version of CISMOA (Communication Interoperability and Security Memorandum Agreement), will allow the transfer of high-end US-origin encrypted communication and data sharing equipment to Indian armed forces. This will enable India to optimally utilise its existing U.S.-origin platforms, such as the P8Is and the C17s.
The addition of these equipments opens up an all together new operational envelope for the Indian forces. For instance, the Boeing manufactured P8I LRMR aircraft, that are tasked with hunting and neutralising hostile submarines, have since induction been unable to seamlessly share their gathered data with other friendly platforms. This missing capability has effectively crippled India’s ability in developing robust common tactical picture amongst its forces.
Conclusion of COMCASA is also a huge step forward in both India’s and the USA’s mission towards countering the increased Chinese presence in IOR (Indian Ocean Region), India’s own maritime background.
COMCASA is also expected to largely boost interoperability between Indian and US forces. With COMCASA in place, Indian and US defence platforms will now be able to communicate with each other over highly secured and encrypted communication channels. This will enable the forces to share the much needed common tactical picture, thus drastically boosting both the forces’ maritime awareness in the region. Till date, US and Indian naval platforms operating in the IOR and beyond, have had to communicate through basic rudimentary devices, which have minimal safeguards.
As COMCASA comes into affect, Indian and US platforms can now interoperate in crucial operations, be it in the hunt for hostile platforms or HADR operations. For instance, the P8Is, which are one of the lead submarine hunter-killer platforms for both the Indian and US Navy, can now operate square-to-square when they prowl the depths of the ocean in search for lurking submerged threats. With access to Combined Enterprise Regional Information Exchange System (CENTRIXS), US Navy’s primary communication system, assets from Indian and US Navy will also be able to seamlessly share their operational data over these data links.
For the past decade and a half, concerns of US getting access to India’s secured communication network had kept successive Indian administrations away from inking COMCASA, even though negotiations had at times attained credible traction.
While the actual text for COMCASA agreement is classified, it is strongly believed that the US has worked extensively for addressing India’s concerns. Both partners are now bound by clauses of the agreement to safeguard the sensitive and secure data and associated systems against access to third party access.
With COMCASA agreed up on, India and US are now working aggressively towards concluding the BECA (Basic Exchange and Cooperation Agreement for Geospatial Intelligence). The BECA agreement lays the basic framework for sharing geo-spatial intelligence, which is crucial for digital mapping and geo-spatial surveys.
