Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and US Secretary for Defence, Lloyd Austin, on Monday concluded a new roadmap for US-India Defence Industrial Cooperation for fast-tracking technology co-operation and co-production in the existing and new systems. It will also facilitate increased collaboration between defence start-up ecosystems of the two countries.

Austin is in India for the second time and met Rajnath Singh and National Security Advisor Ajit Doval separately for enhancing defence and strategic bilateral engagements on increasing industrial co-operation. Besides, Austin during his meetings also exchanged perspectives on a range of regional security issues and committed to collaborating closely with India, US department of Defence stated.

Austin’s visit comes days ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the US from June 22.

On concluding the roadmap for US-India Defence Industrial Cooperation, the Ministry of Defence stated, “Both sides will identify opportunities for co-development of new technologies and co-production of new and existing systems and facilitate increased collaboration between defence start-up ecosystems of the two countries”.

Tech co-operation

According to the US, the Cooperation will fast-track technology co-operation and co-production in areas such as air combat and land mobility systems; intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance; munitions; and the undersea domain. “This initiative aims to change the paradigm for co-operation between US and Indian defence sectors, including a set of specific proposals that could provide India access to cutting-edge technologies and support India’s defence modernisation plans,” said the US Department of Defence.

Both the leaders also pledged to review regulatory hurdles impeding closer industry-to-industry co-operation and to initiate negotiations on a Security of Supply Arrangement and a Reciprocal Defence Procurement agreement, which will promote long-term supply chain stability, said the US.

The two sides also welcomed the inaugural dialogues held recently on Defence Artificial Intelligence and Defence Space. They also discussed growing importance of defence innovation and co-operation in emerging domains such as space, cyberspace, and AI.

Both the countries have also established the India-US Defence Acceleration Ecosystem (INDUS-X), a new initiative of US-India Business Council launched in June of 2021 to advance cutting-edge technology co-operation. It is designed to complement existing government-to-government collaboration by promoting innovative partnerships between American and Indian companies, investors, start-up accelerators, and academic research institutions, said the US Defence Department.

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