- Filed Under
NEW DELHI — Singapore will use military facilities in India for exercise and training of its troops for another five years.
The June 4 agreement was signed in Singapore by new Indian Defense Secretary Radha Krishna Mathur and Chiang Chie Foo, the Singaporean permanent secretary of defense .
Singapore is the only country that India has offered its facilities to for training and its land for exercises, said an Indian Ministry of Defense official.
“The agreement for training and exercises of Singapore Air Force in India was extended up to October 2017 during the visit of Singapore’s Permanent Secretary of Defense to India in July last year,” says the official Defense Ministry release.
India and Singapore first inked a five-year defense cooperation pact in 2007 allowing Singapore troops to exercise regularly on Indian territory and airspace.
Singapore has used Indian artillery bases in the central Indian state of Maharashtra for training purposes and the air forces of the two countries have held joint drills.
“Singapore is of strategic importance for India, as part of its look east policy and efforts to contain the growing influence of China in the region,” says Nitin Mehta, New Delhi-based defense analyst.
