In the third round of India – US 2+2 dialogue, by the combined efforts of both the countries, they efficaciously signed Basic Exchange and Cooperation Agreement (BECA) after a decade. The key participants who met in New Delhi were the Indian External Affairs Minister, Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, Defense Minister, Rajnath Singh, and US Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, and Defense Secretary, Mark Esper. BECA is a strategic agreement in which the US will provide real-time map data to India and other susceptible information congregated by the US satellites. It’s a golden time as India will be able to avail US-based geospatial intelligence and automated hardware and weapons for strengthening its military. Moreover, this geospatial pact will provide India with superior target procurement capabilities including topographical, nautical, and aeronautical data allowing it to hit nuclear sites in Pakistan through Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR). BECA has finalized the four agreements strategically between the two countries. Before signing BECA, India and the US signed three defense-based agreements; Logistics Exchange Memorandum of Agreement (LEMOA), the Communications Compatibility and Security Agreement (COMCASA), and Industrial Security Annex (ISA). These signed agreements deepened industry collaboration and braced India into becoming a global supply chain in the defense sector.
Notwithstanding the grating reality
that the pact carries serious repercussions for Pakistan in terms of peace and
stability of the region and India’s huge acquisition of armed weapons possess a
serious threat to the regional peace. India conducted an unprecedented rate of
missile tests, which again is a threatening Indian nuclear build-up against
Pakistan with horrendous consequences, making Pakistan more vulnerable.
However, the win-win situation between India and Pakistan cannot be ignored.
The strategic stability of the two nuclear-armed adversaries is not capable of
surviving after a first strike and none of the countries has the credible second-strike
capability. Foes, partaking in the ability to retaliate after the first
counterforce strike leads to a state of ‘Mutually Assured Destruction. Since
the declaration of the Cold War between two neighboring adversaries, efforts
are being made in sustaining a second-strike capability to launch nuclear
artilleries on submarines. Moreover, the Submarine Launched Ballistic Missiles
(SLBMs) of both countries are still in the elementary phase. The countries do
not retain a sufficient number of submarines to regulate round-the-clock
deterrent patrols with unbeaten results. Submarines are hard to detect, locate
and target because of their mobility. In this exposed situation, ISR issued
some security limitations for both sides. They do not yield to breach those
limitations. None of the countries can target the land and air arsenal in a
first strike due to difficulty in locating and targeting. In this respect,
India declared a No First Use (NFU) policy but the signing of BECA warns
Pakistan.
