KATHMANDU, Dec 5: Visiting United States' Assistant Secretary of Defense for Indo-Pacific Security Affairs Randall G. Schriver held separate meetings with Minister for Foreign Affairs Pradeep Kumar Gyawali and Chief of the Army Staff Purna Chandra Thapa on Thursday.
In his meeting with Gyawali, Schriver discussed the Indo-Pacific Strategy, a geopolitical intiative introduced by the United States, it is learnt.
Meanwhile, the top US official also met CoAS Thapa to discuss the US-Nepal defense cooperation.
U.S. DoD to gift four M28 aircraft to Nepal Army
According to Nepal Army Spokersperson Bigyan Dev Pandey, Shriver informed that the United States Department of Defense is gifting two M28 Skytruck aircraft to the NA on December 18 this year.
The US government is providing Skytruck aircraft to Nepal in order to strengthen the army’s humanitarian rescues and ferry services. At present, the Nepal Army has one M28 Skytruck aircraft.
The twin-engine aircraft is designed for easy reconfiguration between different types of missions and can operate in extreme conditions with high range and load on unprepared airstrips.
The United States Department of Defense has already contracted Polish aircraft manufacturer, Polskie Zaklady Lotnicze, also known as PZL Mielec, to supply two new M28 Skytruck aircraft to Nepal after a US$18.9 million Foreign Military Sales contract on March 1 between Nepal and the United States.
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