US and India agree defence industry cooperation plan

This handout photograph taken on June 5, 2023 and released by the Indian Ministry of Defence shows India's Defence Minister Rajnath Singh (R) and US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin (L) during their meeting in New Delhi. (Indian Ministry of Defence / AFP)

NEW DELHI, AFP: The United States and India agreed a roadmap for military industrial cooperation Monday, as New Delhi seeks to reduce its reliance on key arms supplier Russia in the face of tensions with China.

“We established an ambitious new roadmap for defence industrial cooperation, which will fast track high priority co-development and co-production projects,” US Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin said as he wrapped up an overnight visit to New Delhi.

But analysts warned that such pledges needed to be backed up by concrete action.

Moscow and New Delhi have been allies for decades, with Russia by far India’s biggest arms supplier.

Now India – which has not condemned Russia for its invasion of Ukraine – is looking to diversify, both by broadening its sources of imports and ramping up domestic production.

Western countries, including the United States and France, are negotiating multi-billion-dollar contracts, and diplomats say India is placing a high priority on technology transfer as part of any deal.

The agreement will fast-track technology cooperation and co-production in areas including air combat and land mobility systems, the “undersea domain”, and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, the US Defence Department said.

The initiative “aims to change the paradigm for cooperation between US and Indian defence sectors”, it said, and “could provide India access to cutting-edge technologies and support India’s defence modernisation plans”.

India has displaced China as the world’s most populous country this year, and relations between the Asian giants have been strained since a deadly high-altitude border clash in June 2020.

At the same time, Washington and Beijing are engaged in fierce competition on diplomatic, military, technological and economic fronts.

But India is walking a diplomatic tightrope: uniquely, it is a member of both the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, which includes Russia and China, and the Quad, set up with the United States, Japan, and Australia to counter Beijing’s growing assertiveness.

As well as arms, India also imports oil from Russia, increasing its purchases since the Ukraine war began.