Friday, April 8 2005 19:14 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: United States has offered India advanced weapons like Patriot PaC II anti-missile systems, network-centric early warning and battlefield control and command systems as a follow up of Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's announcement of plans to engage New Delhi in closer strategic partnership.

"We intend to follow up on the rhetorics to reality and re-draw the strategic map of Indo-US relations," senior US Embassy officials said.

In the coming weeks, the two countries proposed to engage more closely with External Affairs Minister Natwar Singh going to Washington and Commander-in-Chief of the US Pacific Command Admiral William J Fallone making his maiden trip in New Delhi.

A high-level US delegation has been in New Delhi recently and made presentation to Indian Defence officials about the Patriot PaC II systems which is a follow-up of three Indian observers being present in Texas during the live demonstration trials of the missile shield system, officials said.

They said US aviation majors Lockheed Martin and Boeing would aggressively bid for India's plan to buy 126 multi-role combat aircraft and were hopeful of bagging the contract as the fighting falcons and F-18s were the lowest priced and offered cutting edge technology.

US armed forces, the officials said, proposed to give a new dimension to military to military engagement between the two countries by undertaking company level joint exercises in California in June and taking these manoeuvres first to battalion and then to brigade level by 2007.