An Indian submarine is about to leave India for Singapore, the world’s largest port, to join the US Navy’s USS Lassen.
The Lassens are part of the US fleet of four amphibious assault ships and are the largest US Navy vessels in the Indian Ocean.
The amphibious ship is also scheduled to arrive in Singapore later this year, after its third trip in the past year to the region.
India and the US are the only countries that can afford to spend money on the construction of an amphibious vessel.
It is not known how much money India is spending on the Lassenzas.
India is the second-largest bilateral trade partner of the United States, and is one of the biggest buyers of US manufactured goods.
In fact, it has a close economic relationship with both the US and India.
However, the Indian Navy, in the wake of the Indo-US Naval Treaty (NTT) which ended in 2018, is considering scrapping the Lattes as a response to US threats.
India has been threatening to block the Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) and the American-built aircraft carrier USS John F Kennedy (CVN 69) if the two countries did not agree on a bilateral defence agreement.
India’s Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar said in August that India would block any move by the US to scrap the Lhasa-based amphibious craft.
“There will be no need for an Lassellanship [submarine] from India to be used in the [Naval Sea Combat Command] operations,” he told reporters at the time.
The US is already preparing to withdraw from the LTT with the formation of the China-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB).
In September, US President Donald Trump announced plans to pull out of the treaty, saying that the US was not “ready to enter into any new international military arrangements”.