During the ongoing visit of US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin to India, the two countries on M💙onday firmed up an ambitious roadmap for defence industrial cooperation to accord high priority to various projects for the co-development of military platforms and hardware.
The develop꧃ment comes against the backdrop of the Ukraine conflict and China's increasing muscle-flexing in the Inꦉdo-Pacific region.
Austin's visit and the laying of ground-work for increased defence industrial cooperation also takes place in the run-up to Prime Minister Narendra Modi🀅's state visit to the United States later this month.
The roadmap was finalised during talks between 𒐪Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and 🔯Austin.
At a media briefing, Austin said the US-India partnership is a "cornerst🐓one" for a free and open Indo-Pacific and the🍷 deepening ties showed how technological innovation and growing military cooperation between the two "great powers" can be a force for global good.
Austin said the US-India cooperation matters "because we all face a rapidly c🌱hanging world. We see bullying and coercion from the People's Republic of China and Russian aggression 🍌against Ukraine that seeks to redraw borders and threatens national sovereignty".
It is learnt that Singh and Austin also touched upon General Electric's proposal to share technology with I🌠ndia for fi🦩ghter jet engines and New Delhi's plan to procure 30 MQ-9B armed drones for over $3 billion from US defence major General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc.
Austin🌜 also held separate talks with NSA Ajit Doval.
Austin said, "We established an ambitious new roadmap for defence industrial cooperation with a fast-track (and) high-priority for co-development and co-production projects and to🧸 build c෴loser ties between our defence industries. We look forward to advancing some of those projects during the upcoming visits."
The two sides also deliberated on ways to increase informati🎶on sharing as well as new initiatives to improve maritime cooperatio🍨n, including in the undersea domain.
In a statement, the defence ministry said both sides will identify opportunities ♋for the co-development of new technologies and the co-production of existing and new systems besides facilitating increasing collaboration between defen💮ce start-up ecosystems of the two countries.
♚"Towards these objectives, they concluded a roadmap for US-India defenc𝐆e industrial cooperation which shall guide the policy direction for the next few years," it said.
The ministry said the meeting between Singh and Austin was "warm and cor🔥dial" and the two sides discussed a "substantial range" of bilateral de⛎fence cooperation issues, with a particular focus on identifying ways to strengthen industrial cooperation.
In a series of tweets, Singh 🥂said the talks revolved around enhancing defence cooperation in s𝓰everal areas including the convergence of strategic interests and security cooperation.
"India-US partnership is critical for ensuring a free, open and rules-bound Indo-Pacific region. We look forwa♏rd to closely work with the US across the domains for capacity building and further consolidating our strategic partnership," Singh said.
The defence ministry said both𝕴 sides reviewed the robust ♔and multifaceted bilateral defence cooperation activities and agreed to maintain the momentum of engagement.
"They welcomed the inaugural diꦏalogues held recently focusing on defence artificial intelligence and defence space. They also discussed the regional security i🦩ssues given their shared interest in maintaining peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region," it said.
In his remar༺ks at the media briefing, Austin said that as the world's two largest democracies, India and the US have a unique role in preserving the rules-based international order that "keeps us all secure".
"Our global and strategic partnership has continued to rapidly grow. Today the US-India🐼 partnership is a cornerstone for a free and open Indo-Pacific. Our deepening bond shows how technological innovation and growing military cooperation between two great powers can be a force for global good," he said.
Austin descrꦺibed his talks with Singh and Dov༒al as "productive".
"Democracies must now rally together in common interests and shared values. Preserving and protecti🍨ng freedom are essential to peace and prosperity and require vigorous leadership from the US and India," he said.
"So we still have a lot of work to do. I am confident that the US-India partnership will help secure a൲♛n open and prosperous future for the Indo-Pacific and the wider world," he said.
Austin arrived in New Delhi on Sunday on a two-day tour. It i💎s Secretary Austin's second visit to I♎ndia. His previous trip to the country was in March 2021.
In a major move, President Joe Biden and Prime Minister Modi announced in May last year ✃the US-India initiative on Critical and Emerging Technology (iCET) to elevate and expand the strategic techn𒁃ology partnership and defence industrial cooperation between the two countries.
In his address at the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore on Friday, the US Defence Secretary said that iCET "lets us explore new ways to co-develop key defence platf𒁃orms".
The iCET is expected to forge closer linkages between the goꦚvernment, academia and industry of the two countries in areas such as artificial intelligence, quantum computing, 5G and 6G, biotech, space and semicond🅠uctors.
(With PTI inputs)
