Basic Exchange and Cooperation Agreement for Geo-Spatial cooperation (BECA):

India and the U.S. to sign the last foundational agreement,Basic Exchange and Cooperation Agreement for Geo-Spatial cooperation (BECA) during the upcoming 2+2 ministerial dialogue.

• India and the U.S. to sign the last foundational agreement,Basic Exchange and Cooperation Agreement for Geo-Spatial cooperation (BECA) during the upcoming 2+2 ministerial dialogue.
• This agreement would facilitate exchange of geospatial information between India and United States for both military and civilian use.
• Significance and benefits for India from BECA: BECA will allow India to use US expertise on geospatial intelligence and to enhance military accuracy of automated hardware systems and weapons like cruise, ballistic missiles and drones.
• Apart from this the countries will also sin 3 billion USD worth deals.
• This includes six Apache attack Helicopter and Romeo Naval helicopters.
• With this the total value of Indian defence deals with the United States will become 21 billion USD since 2007.
• BECA is an important precursor to acquire the armed unmanned aerial vehicles from the US. One such UAV is Predator-B.
• India has already signed the following agreements with the United States : GSOMIA in 2002, LEMOA in 2016, COMCASA in 2018