NEW DELHI: Even as India and the US inked helicopters deals worth $3 billion on Tuesday, they also agreed to work towards an early conclusion of the fourth and final bilateral foundational military pact called the Basic Exchange and Cooperation Agreement for Geo-Spatial Cooperation (BECA).The BECA, which will enable the US to share advanced satellite and topographical data for long-range navigation and missile-targeting with India, will come after India inked the General Security of Military Information Agreement (GSOMIA) in 2002, the Logistics Exchange Memorandum of Agreement (LEMOA) in 2016 and the Communications , Compatibility and Security Arrangement (COMCASA) in 2018. "BECA should be inked by next year," said an official.India and the US, of course, inked the deals for the 24 MH-60 'Romeo' helicopters for Rs 15,157 crore ($2.12 billion) and the six additional Apache attack choppers for Rs 5,691 crore ($796 million) on Tuesday, taking the total value of lucrative Indian defence deals bagged by Washington to over $21 billion in the last 13 years.The first six MH-60 'Romeo' multi-mission helicopters will be delivered to India in a year, with the rest 18 thereafter coming over the next four years, to plug the Navy’s critical operational gap in detecting, tracking and destroying enemy submarines. The six AH-64E Apache attack choppers, in turn, will be delivered from 2023 onwards.“Earlier today, we expanded our defense cooperation with agreements for India to purchase more than $3 billion of advanced American military equipment, including Apache and MH-60 Romeo helicopters -- the finest in the world. These deals will enhance our joint defense capabilities as our militaries continue to train and operate side-by-side,” said US President Donald Trump With the chopper deals done, the US will aim to seal the other proposed deals in the pipeline worth around $7 billion over the next couple of years. These include six more P-8I long-range maritime patrol aircraft ($1.8 billion), the National Advanced Surface to Air Missile System-II for the missile shield over Delhi ($1.8 billion), 30 Sea Guardian armed drones (over $2.5 billion) and 13 big MK-45 naval gun systems for warships ($1.02 billion).“President Trump has assured that he will give the highest consideration to India for procurement, technology and joint collaboration in the defence sector,” said foreign secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla.