Paper: GS – II, Subject: international Relations, Topic: India’s Relations with Major Powers, Issue: Reciprocal Exchange of Logistics Support (RELOS).
Context:
Recently ratified Reciprocal Exchange of Logistics Support (RELOS) agreement between India and Russia, examining its implications for both countries’ strategic interests, particularly in the Arctic and Indo-Pacific regions.
Key Takeaways:
What RELOS Entails:
The Reciprocal Exchange of Logistics Support (RELOS) agreement between India and Russia establishes a framework for enhanced military cooperation through logistical support. Key aspects include:
- Movement of Military Assets: Facilitates the movement of military formations, warships, and aircraft between the two countries.
- Logistical Support: Defines arrangements for providing logistical support to each other’s forces, including refueling, repairs, and maintenance.
- Airspace and Port Access: Enables mutual use of airspace by military aircraft and port calls by warships.
- Scope of Application: Designed for joint military exercises, training, humanitarian assistance, and disaster relief, with potential for broader application by mutual consent.
India-Russia Logistics Agreement:
Comparison with US Logistics Pacts: RELOS is similar to existing agreements India has with the US:
- LEMOA (Logistics Exchange Memorandum of Agreement): Enables the US and Indian militaries to refuel from one another’s military bases and get supplies, spare parts, and services from each other’s land facilities, air bases, and ports.
- COMCASA (Communications Compatibility and Security Agreement): Permits the US to give India encrypted communications equipment and systems, allowing Indian and US military leaders and their planes and ships to communicate over secure networks in both peace and conflict.
- BECA (Basic Exchange and Cooperation Agreement): Facilitates sharing of high-end military technology, including access to US geospatial, satellite, and drone data.
Strategic Implications:
- Balancing China: These pacts strengthen India, a key US partner in the QUAD, to balance Chinese influence in the Indo-Pacific.
- Interoperability: For the US, they make India a more capable and interoperable partner in its strategic goal towards a free and open Indo-Pacific.
The India–Russia logistics agreement expands India’s strategic footprint from the Indo-Pacific to the Arctic. It reflects India’s calibrated approach to global geopolitics cooperation without alliance, access without entanglement.
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