Amid intensifying global tensions, India and the US are working to resolve over $5 billion in pending defence deals critical to India’s military modernisation. At stake are engine transfers, joint production agreements and strategic collaborations that could redefine India’s self-reliance goals
In what could become one of the biggest boosts yet to India’s push for military modernisation and strategic self-reliance, New Delhi and Washington are racing to untangle a massive backlog of pending defence deals, with high-level talks intensifying over the past week. The pending figure — estimated by officials to be well over $5 billion — has emerged as a symbol of both the promise and the unfinished business at the core of the world’s most closely watched democratic security partnership.
At the centre of the story is an unfulfilled order that India’s state-run Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) signed back in February 2021. The order, for 99 GE F404 jet engines, is critical to equipping the indigenous Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Tejas Mk-1A, which remains a point of pride for India’s homegrown aviation sector and a showcase of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Aatmanirbhar Bharat vision in defence. But four years on, only one engine has actually arrived in India, causing major production delays for the 83 Mk-1A jets on order for the Indian Air Force. HAL insiders say that if the backlog is not cleared soon, it could push back squadron induction timelines well into the 2030s.
The delay has become a sticking point in the broader defence trade relationship, which has grown rapidly since the early 2000s but remains riddled with gaps. Alongside the F404 engines, a more ambitious pact involving the F414 engine — an advanced variant meant to power the more capable Tejas Mk-2 — is also stuck at the final paperwork stage. The deal is worth around $1 billion and, crucially, promises a transfer of up to 80 per cent of the technology to India’s domestic industry, boosting indigenous capabilities under the Government’s drive for defence self-reliance. For a country that has long struggled with dependence on foreign engines to power its fighter fleet, the F414 deal could mark a turning point. But even this flagship joint-production promise has yet to clear the last bureaucratic hurdles.
In recent meetings at the Pentagon, US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth and External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar signalled that both Governments recognise the urgency. In carefully worded statements, Washington expressed “guarded optimism” that the engine sales would be pushed across the finish line in the coming months. Sources say the final details are likely to be ironed out before the much-anticipated signing of a new 10-year defence partnership framework agreement later this year. The framework will replace the existing roadmap that expires in 2025 and is being pitched by both capitals as a bedrock for expanded co-production, supply-chain resilience, intelligence cooperation and logistics sharing — key priorities for the Modi Government’s strategic vision for a secure and self-reliant India.
For India, the list of pending items goes beyond engines. The Indian Navy has long sought to add six more P-8I Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft to its fleet to tighten surveillance across the Indian Ocean — an increasingly contested maritime space where Chinese naval presence has grown steadily in the past decade. That deal too is part of the same backlog, with negotiations on pricing and offsets dragging on. The Army, meanwhile, has pushed for co-production of Javelin anti-tank guided missiles, as well as a possible collaboration on Stryker armoured vehicles, to fill critical gaps in its mechanised forces and strengthen India’s ability to stand on its own feet in defence production.
Behind these military numbers lies a larger geopolitical wager. The United States sees India as a pivotal partner in its Indo-Pacific strategy — an essential counterweight to China’s assertive maritime and territorial push. Recent reports that China has tested advanced ‘blackout bombs’ — low-yield electromagnetic pulse (EMP) weapons designed to cripple enemy electronics without direct destruction — have further rattled security planners in Delhi. Such disruptive technology raises fears of future battlefield scenarios where communications, air defence radars, and command centres could be blinded in minutes. Defence experts say clearing the pending deals with the US, especially those involving advanced avionics, electronic warfare and resilient command networks, is now all the more critical to build credible deterrence — an objective the Modi Government has repeatedly prioritised through its push for modernisation and strategic autonomy.
Successive US administrations have pitched India as a natural defence partner, upgrading its status with a special waiver for high-end technology transfers typically reserved for NATO allies. The Trump administration even went a step further, dangling the prospect of supplying India with F-35 stealth fighters if Delhi chose to take that leap. The pitch, repeated by Trump during his last visit to India, drew sharp criticism from opposition parties back home, which questioned whether India should spend billions on imported fifth-generation fighters at a time when its own stealth fighter programme is inching forward under the Aatmanirbhar Bharat banner. However, unlike past Governments that often left such bold indigenous programmes starved of momentum, the Modi Government has doubled down on funding, technology partnerships and clear timelines to ensure India’s domestic capabilities are not just showcased, but delivered.
Yet, for all the rhetoric, the record has remained mixed. The US remains India’s biggest arms supplier after Russia and France, but several ambitious co-production dreams have fallen short of the scale envisioned. Unlike traditional arms purchases from Russia — which usually include licensed production in India with significant local content — US deals have often come with stricter technology transfer conditions. Indian defence analysts say this must change if the partnership is to match its promise. The F414 agreement is now being held up as a test case: if the full technology transfer goes through as planned, it could set a precedent for future aerospace collaborations, including possible engine development for India’s stealth fighter programme — an area where the Government’s policy push has laid strong groundwork.
Meanwhile, China’s growing footprints in the Indian Ocean, coupled with tighter defence links between Beijing and Moscow, have added fresh urgency to Delhi’s calculus. The border standoff in eastern Ladakh, now dragging into its fifth year, has made it clear to India’s strategic planners that the country must accelerate defence modernisation and widen its supply base to avoid becoming hostage to any one partner. The Ukraine war, too, has highlighted risks: as Russia funnels much of its defence industry capacity towards its own war effort, India’s long-standing reliance on Russian spares and upgrades has come under strain. In this context, officials say the Modi Government’s steady push to diversify sources and build domestic manufacturing capacity is proving crucial — and marks a clear break from the inertia that slowed defence reforms in the past.
In this context, clearing the $5 billion logjam with the US is more than an accounting exercise — it is a test of whether the bilateral relationship can finally move beyond press statements to deliver hardware, local jobs, and deeper industrial linkages that directly support Aatmanirbhar Bharat. In Washington, the strategic community sees the same backlog as a measure of how ready India really is to play the role of a frontline security partner. Pentagon insiders admit privately that the US still struggles with cumbersome export controls and lengthy congressional clearances that often make delivery timelines unpredictable.
In India, meanwhile, there is growing recognition that the Government’s reform drive is gradually overcoming old bureaucratic hurdles. Senior officials in the Ministry of Defence point out that new procurement procedures, faster decision-making and clear leadership direction are helping India secure better terms, accelerate joint production and ensure that global partners invest long-term in India’s defence sector.
For now, though, the immediate focus remains on unblocking the stuck deals and getting the new 10-year framework ready for signing before the year ends. If that happens, the two Governments will have a chance to showcase the depth of their trust, at a time when both are being tested by an increasingly volatile global order.
There is no shortage of ambition on paper. The question is whether this time, it will translate into hardware on the tarmac and assembly lines humming with American engines made on Indian soil. The answer will define whether the India-US defence partnership lives up to its billing as the ‘defining relationship’ of the 21st century — or remains trapped in the tangle of well-meaning declarations and missed deadlines. For India, that answer could shape nothing less than its ability to stand its ground in an uncertain neighbourhood — and its readiness to claim its place as a true military power built on its own terms, under the decisive leadership driving Aatmanirbhar Bharat forward. With a renewed focus on self-reliance and strategic partnerships, India’s defence preparedness is set to reach new heights under Prime Minister Modi’s decisive leadership.
(The writer is international relations scholar at JNU and columnist. He interviews defence experts and hosts Israeli policymakers and diplomats)