Washington: India and the US in a collaborate move have decided to implement Helicopter Operations from Ships Other Than Aircraft Carriers (HOSTAC), in order to improve the interoperability between the two allied countries defense forces especially the navy forces of the two countries.
Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is in Clark, Pampanga to have a second meeting with her American counterpart James Mattis. Both the countries announced their agreement of the same.
Stressing on the importance of improved maritime security forces and its strengthening and cooperation, the two countries have agreed upon implementation of HOSTAC said a statement by the US Defence Department.
HOSTAC allows multiple navies and coast guards to work with each other, using their platforms, through prior knowledge of their equipment, processes and guidance systems.
According to an official, the two countries have earlier exchanged this two months prior to their joint exercises adding that “Most of this information is publicly available”. Now, this agreement will be a rolling arrangement he said.
Lt Cmdr Bryan Weatherup, Aviation operations officer explaining the system at a HOSTAC conference last year in Singapore attended by 11 countries said: “Helicopter operations are critical to advanced maritime operations and they must be synchronized”.
He is reported saying to sources as, “From Humanitarian Assistance/Disaster Relief (HA/DR) missions, maritime domain awareness operations, anti-submarine warfare or moving personnel or supplies, aircrews must work closely with other operators and those from various partner forces”.
“The bottom line is that maritime-based aircraft need a place to land at sea,” said Lt Weatherup adding that, “To be successful in both bilateral and multilateral operating environments, we need to conduct effective helicopter operations with our friends and partners.”
The 11 participants at the conference were Great Britain, Canada, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and the United States.