New Delhi: The overall strategy for defence industrial cooperation between India and the United States was completed on Monday. This roadmap intends to identify opportunities for collaboration on cutting-edge technologies and the co-creation of both old and new defence systems. It will also promote better cooperation between the defence startup ecosystems of the two countries.
The Defence Ministry, in a statement, said, “The two ministers explored ways of building resilient supply chains. Both sides will identify opportunities for co-development of new technologies and co-production of existing and new systems and facilitate increased collaboration between the defence start-up ecosystems of the two countries.”
The statement added, “The two sides discussed a substantial range of bilateral defence cooperation issues, with particular focus on identifying ways to strengthen industrial cooperation.”
The blueprint, reached during a private meeting between US Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin and India’s Rajnath Singh, is expected to influence future national security decisions.
Following the meeting, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh took to Twitter and said, “India-US partnership is critical for ensuring a free, open, and rules-bound Indo-Pacific region. We look forward to closely working with the US across domains for capacity building and further consolidating our strategic partnership,”
India-US partnership is critical for ensuring a free, open and rules-bound Indo-Pacific region. We look forward to closely work with the US across the domains for capacity building
and further consolidating our strategic partnership.— Rajnath Singh (@rajnathsingh) June 5, 2023
Chief of Defence Staff General Anil Chauhan, Defence Secretary Giridhar Aramane, Secretary of the Department of Defence R&D, and Chairman of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), Dr. Samir V. Kamat, were among the prominent members of the Ministry of Defence who attended the meeting.
Austin tweeted, thanking Singh, “It was great to meet again with my friend Rajnath Singh and thank him for his unwavering commitment to US-India defence relations. His leadership has helped pave the way for deeper collaboration, joint exercises, and technology sharing between our two countries.”
Great to meet again with my friend @rajnathsingh and thank him for his unwavering commitment to U.S.-India defense relations.
His leadership has helped paved the way for deeper collaboration, joint exercises, and technology sharing between our two countries. pic.twitter.com/uMuyS9DYtH
— Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III (@SecDef) June 5, 2023
The US Secretary of Defense’s visit comes ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the US later this month.
The US Defence Secretary, who arrived in India a day ago on a two day long visit earlier today inspected the Tri-Services Guard of Honour in the presence of Defence Minister at the Manekshaw Centre in the national capital.
After his arrival, the US Defence Secretary tweeted, “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,” he said.
Austin’s New Delhi visit will prominently focus on advancing India-US new defence innovation and industrial cooperation initiatives and continuing with the efforts to expand operational cooperation between the US and Indian militaries.
The Pentagon, while elaborating on the details of the Defence Secretary’s visit said, “After Singapore, Secretary Austin will visit New Delhi to meet with Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and other leaders as the United States and India continue to modernize the US-India Major Defence Partnership.”
“This visit provides an opportunity to accelerate new defence innovation and industrial cooperation initiatives and drive ongoing efforts to expand operational cooperation between the US and Indian militaries,” it said.
The visit holds particular significance as it comes over two weeks ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s upcoming state visit to Washington later this month.
This is the US Defence Secretary’s second visit to India after a previous trip to the country in March, 2021.
After India, Secretary Austin will conclude his trip in France to participate in events commemorating the 79th anniversary of D-Day and meet with French and United Kingdom defence leaders.
