India Considering Repairing U.S. Military Sealift Ships Following 2+2 Dialogue - USNI News

The United States and India are weighing the potential to maintain and fix U.S. Military Sealift Command ships in Indian shipyards, the State Department announced this week.

Following a dialogue between Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Secretary of State Tony Blinken and their Indian counterparts, the State Department said the two countries would look at how feasible it is to maintain and repair MSC ships in Indian yards to help the defense industrial base.

“To further enhance defense industrial cooperation in the naval sector, both sides agreed to explore possibilities of utilizing the Indian shipyards for repair and maintenance of ships of the U.S. Maritime Sealift Command (MSC) to support mid-voyage repair of U.S. Naval ships,” according to a State Department announcement.

It’s unclear what this evaluation stage would look like. The Navy did not immediately respond to questions from USNI News.