Defence minister AK Antony arrives in US for talks

Washington: Indian defence minister AK Antony arrived here at the head of a high-powered delegation to hold wide-ranging bilateral talks with top US defence officials. The talks are expected to cover military-to-military ties, regional security and purchase of defence equipment.

Antony and US defence secretary Robert Gates are expected to exchange views on regional and global security issues in one-on-one meets as well as delegation-level talks that are expected to stretch over two days.

Antony is also expected to meet national security advisor Gen James Jones (retd) and chairman of the US joint chiefs of staff Admiral Mike Mullen.

The high-powered Indian delegation also includes eastern army commander Lt Gen Bikram Singh and Andaman and Nicobar tri-services command chief, Admiral DK Joshi, who are tipped to be the next army and navy chiefs respectively.

The Indian Air Force is represented by director general (air operations) Air Marshal AK Gogoi.

Defence secretary Pradeep Kumar and adviser to defence minister, Sundaram Krishna, are also part of the high-level delegation.