By Sumit Kumar Singh

Bengaluru, Feb 4 (IANS): The US is looking forward to working with India to tackle evolving space threats, US Defence Attache in India, Rear Admiral Eileen Laubacher, said on Thursday.

At a seminar during the ongoing Aero India, she said: "As we build out our own Space Force, re-establish the Space Command, we look forward to wide-ranging cooperation with India and the Defence Space Agency. It is imperative that we both work together in this emerging domain as space threats evolve."

Rear Admiral Laubacher, referring to the growing Chinese assertiveness and emerging threats for the Indo-Pacific region, said: "Today we are seeing an increasingly provocative set of behaviour throughout the Indo-Pacific, from the Taiwan Strait to the South China Sea, to India's borders high in the Himalayas. These actions threaten the norms of international conduct, the norms which India and the United States uphold resolutely."

She also pointed that the security challenges at India's doorstep underscore the importance of the robust partnership between both the countries. To defend the rules-based international order against actors and activities that seek to threaten it, the US has joined India and like-minded countries to counter these emerging threats.

The Defence Attache also talked about India's effort to defend freedom of the high seas and maritime and land borders.

She also mentioned how India sent technical equipment and a team of specialists to Mauritius to help local authorities combat the devastating oil spill last year.

About existing co-operations between both countries, Rear Admiral Laubacher said the Information Fusion Centre-Indian Ocean Region (IFC-IOR), headquartered in the National Capital Region, is already coordinating with maritime agencies throughout the region to prevent environmental disasters in the future.

"Our US liaison officer there in Gurgaon contributes regularly to ensure pertinent information is integrated into the IFC's overall efforts," she added.