New Delhi: After finalising a mega jet engine deal for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s US visit later this month, both countries are working on a “security supply and reciprocal agreement”, and focusing on cooperation in critical emerging technologies like hypersonic, underwater domain awareness (UDA) and advanced materials, ThePrint has learnt.
Sources in the defence and security establishment told ThePrint that these topics, along with the situation with Pakistan and China and the security situation in the Asia Pacific, came up for discussion between Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and visiting US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin Monday. Austin also met National Security Adviser Ajit Doval.
The sources told ThePrint that Rajnath has asked Austin to encourage American companies to source more from India, given that they have bagged major deals, including in commercial aviation, while also setting up maintenance, repair and overhaul facilities for US defence and civil systems operating in India.
India has also told the US that the Biden administration has to clear “hurdles that stand in the way” when it comes to the purchase and transfer of technology from American companies to Indian firms.
Sources said both sides have already initiated talks for an agreement for sharing technology with each other, and that it is promised to be a “seamless affair”.
The jet-engine project, which ThePrint had reported is in the last stages of finalisation, also came up for discussion, the sources added, saying both sides congratulated each other on reaching a deal.
A decade in the works, the mega defence deal is for India’s state-run Hindustan Aeronautics Limited and private American firm General Electric to jointly manufacture indigenous jet engines for fighter aircraft.
Sources said that the deal, which is for the local manufacturing of the GE F414 engines in India under the technology-transfer mode — and also for the development of a new engine variant — will be announced during Modi’s visit to the US .
The other projects that came up for discussion include those in emerging technology fields like underwater domain awareness, and hypersonic and advanced materials, according to the sources.
Underwater domain awareness is an aspect of maritime security that focuses on the underwater sector, while hypersonic weapons are those capable of travelling between 5 and 25 times the speed of sound.
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Pakistan, China
India also raised the issue of Pakistan at the meeting between Rajnath and Austin, and made it clear that the neighbouring country cannot be trusted with weapons supplied by the US, sources said.
The ongoing tensions with China also came up for discussion, and both sides stressed on the need to work closely.
In a statement issued after the meeting, the US said both leaders welcomed the conclusion of a new “Roadmap for US-India Defence Industrial Cooperation” — an initiative that aims to fast-track technology cooperation 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 cooperation 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,” the statement said.
Rajnath and Austin also pledged to review “regulatory hurdles impeding closer industry-to-industry cooperation and to initiate negotiations on a Security of Supply Arrangement and a Reciprocal Defence Procurement agreement, which will promote long-term supply chain stability,” the statement said, adding that the two leaders were also committed to strengthening operational collaboration across all military services, with an eye to supporting India’s leading role as a security provider in the Indo-Pacific.
The statement said that the two leaders also discussed new opportunities to strengthen information sharing and increase cooperation in the maritime domain.
(Edited by Uttara Ramaswamy)
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