- The United States and India are taking steps to improve their defense partnership.
- The US and Indian forces will work to improve maritime security.
- Washington and New Delhi also agreed to expand their space collaboration.
The latest indication of collaboration between the two nations US and India in the face of a more aggressive China was the announcement by officials on Tuesday that the United States and India are taking steps to improve their defense partnership.
The proposals, which include increased cooperation on military-related businesses and operational coordination in the Indo-Pacific, were developed during two days of talks between the government and industry representatives from the two countries in Washington.
According to a White House information sheet, collaboration on developing jet engines and military weapons technologies is crucial among them. In particular, it stated that the US government will try to hasten the evaluation of a request made by US company General Electric to produce jet engines in India for use in indigenous Indian aircraft.
According to the information sheet, the US and Indian forces will work to improve maritime security as well as intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance capabilities.
US Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks told Indian National Security Adviser Ajit Doval that “building alliances and partnerships are a top priority” for the Pentagon, in what she said was “the region’s increasingly contested strategic environment,” according to a Defense Department statement.
Hicks said building the partnerships was a major objective of the US’ 2022 National Defense Strategy, which calls China a “growing multi-domain threat.”
While the United States has witnessed China‘s military buildup in places near Taiwan and major US ally Japan, India’s forces have battled with Chinese troops along the Line of Actual Control, the ill-defined frontier between the two countries high in the Himalayas.
The United States and India, together with Japan and Australia, are members of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, also known as the Quad, an informal security forum founded in the early 2000s. It has become more active in recent years as part of efforts to oppose China’s Indo-Pacific reach and territorial claims.
US President Joe Biden and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the US-India collaboration on Critical and Emerging Technology on the margins of a Quad conference in Tokyo last May. (iCET).
The sessions this week were the first under the initiative, and they brought together dozens of government officials, CEOs from the private sector, and leading academics from both nations.
Aside from defense technologies, Washington and New Delhi plan to “increase international collaboration in a variety of sectors — including artificial intelligence, quantum technologies, and enhanced wireless,” according to a White House information sheet.
The commitment to grow the semiconductor sector in India, which has the educated and qualified people needed to become a major participant in making those crucial components, was a major industrial component of the conference.
Furthermore, the two countries agreed to collaborate on the development of next-generation telecoms in India, including 5G and 6G sophisticated cell phone technology.
Washington and New Delhi also agreed to expand their space collaboration, including aiding India’s astronaut development, commercial space sector, and role in planetary defense.
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