"Prasad and a high-powered team of officers will be leaving for Washington Monday for the defence policy group (DPG) meeting," the official said.

"The DPG is the highest body to chart out the course of bilateral defence cooperation," he said.

The two day meet will begin on August 6, he added.

According to reports, India and the US will finalise schedules and details of military exercises for the coming year, which will include joint helicopter and fighter manoeuvres.

New Delhi is expected to persuade Washington to lift curbs on the transfer of dual-use and high-tech systems, the Press Trust of India (PTI) news agency reported.

While Washington has given Israel a go-ahead to sell Phalcon Airborne air early warning radars to India, New Delhi is still awaiting a green light to acquire the Arrow anti-missile system, which has been developed jointly by the US and Israel, PTI said.

Talks on the acquisition of deep submergence rescue vessels, human sensors and light arms for special forces are also slated during the DPG, PTI said.

Washington's move to secure a United Nations' mandate to broaden the stablisation force in Iraq to encourage countries like India to send troops is also likely to figure, it added.

After much dithering, New Delhi last month refused to send troops to Iraq as part of the US-led stablisation force, due to the lack of a domestic consensus.

The last India-US DPG meet took place in May 2002 in Washington.

The DPG was set up in 1992 and held regular meetings until 1998, when Washington slapped sanctions on New Delhi after its shock nuclear tests in May.

The meetings resumed in 2001.

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