India- US Defense Talks: Regional, Indo-Pacific Issues Discussed

NEW DELHI: In New Delhi on Monday, US counterpart Lloyd Austin and Indian Defence Minister Rajnath Singh had a private meeting. The two leaders held extensive discussions covering a variety of important defense-related issues involving both countries as well as regional security issues, especially those in the Indo-Pacific.

The US Defence Secretary began a two-day visit to New Delhi on Sunday with the goal of examining ways to further improve bilateral defence collaboration, particularly in the transfer of vital technologies for the joint production of military hardware. More than two weeks before Prime Minister Narendra Modi's state visit to Washington, when the two countries are anticipated to announce efforts to deepen their bilateral strategic alliance, Secretary Austin will travel to India.

Before the talks in the Manekshaw Centre, Secretary Austin received a guard of honour.According to those who were aware of Austin's travel before the meetings, his discussions with Singh will focus on a number of crucial areas of collaboration, including the transfer of crucial technologies for the combined manufacturing of military hardware.

"I'm returning to India to meet with key leaders for discussions about strengthening our Major Defense Partnership. Together, we're advancing a shared vision for a free and open Indo-Pacific," the US defence secretary tweeted on Sunday.

The aforementioned sources claim that Singh and Austin will likely discuss a General Electric proposal to share fighter jet engine technology with India and New Delhi's intention to purchase 30 MQ-9B armed drones from US defence giant General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc for more than USD 3 billion, among other topics.

In order to power its fighter aircraft, India has been seeking to build jet engines domestically through technology transfer. India can now share essential military hardware and technology after the US designated it as a "Major Defence Partner" in June 2016. Secretary Austin is making her second trip to India. In March 2021, he made his previous journey to India.

In a significant step, President Joe Biden and Prime Minister Modi unveiled the US-India initiative on Critical and Emerging Technology (iCET) in May of last year to advance and broaden the strategic technology collaboration and industrial military cooperation between the two nations. The iCET is anticipated to strengthen ties between the government, academic, and business sectors of the two nations in fields like artificial intelligence, quantum computing, 5G and 6G, biotech, semiconductors, and space.

The two nations have signed several significant defence and security agreements in recent years, notably the Logistics Exchange Memorandum of Agreement (LEMOA) in 2016, which permits their militaries to use one another's bases for supply replenishment and repair. COMCASA (Communications Compatibility and Security Agreement), which was signed by India and the US in 2018, also enables military cooperation between the two nations and permits the transfer of advanced technologies from the US to India.

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