India-US Defence ties are expected to see a major fillip with Washington ready to collaborate with New Delhi in joint designing and manufacturing frontline weapon systems, including fighter jet engines and aircraft carrier. Giving a boost to ‘Make in India’ policy, the US has also signaled its companies will enter into joint ventures with Indian private and public sector industry to manufacture sophisticated systems, including sensors and electronic warfare equipment.
India has all along insisted that it wants cutting-edge technology from the US who was always reluctant to do so in the past. The scenario changed with President Barack Obama’s visit to India in January this year wherein two sides agreed to give momentum to strategic and Defence relations and Defence Secretary Ashton Carter will ink these far-reaching agreements during his visit here in June first week.
Carter will also sign the Defence Trade and Technology Initiative (DTTI) with India for joint development of weapon systems in India besides Defence Framework Agreement for ten years. India and the US had signed the first Defence Framework Agreement in 2005 during then Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee’s visit to Washington.
On collaboration in developing fighter jet engine, officials said this pact will propel India’s aerospace industry into the top league as only three countries including the US, Russia and the UK have capabilities for designing and manufacturing highly complex engines.
The indigenously designed Kaveri engine is yet to take off even after 20 years and the US manufactured GE-404 engine now powers homemade Tejas light combat aircraft (lCA). In this backdrop, induction of high-end technology from the US will enable Indian scientists to fast-track development of locally-made jet engine, they said.
The two countries had agreed to set up joint committees to explore co-operation for jet engines and aircraft carriers in India during Obama's visit. Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on January 25 after holding talks with Obama, "we have also decided to take our growing Defence cooperation to a new level. We have agreed, in principle, to pursue co-development and co-production of specific advanced Defence projects." He also said this would help upgrade the country's domestic Defence industry and expand the manufacturing sector in India.
Obama said the Defence Framework Agreement would guide the bilateral Defence cooperation for the next ten years. "We agreed to deepen our Defence and security cooperation ... And in a major step forward for our relationship, Defence technology and trade initiative will allow us to jointly develop and produce Defence technologies," he said.
The aircraft carrier project is the other significant milestone in Defence relations between the two countries as India aims to have two indigenously designed and built ships in the next two decades. The first carrier INS Vikrant is under-construction at Cochin Shipyard and the 40,000 ton vessel is expected to join service in 2018.
Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) chaired by Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar earlier this week gave the go-ahead for the construction of second ship INS Vishal and allocated Rs 30 crore for preliminary studies by the Navy. The US is likely to collaborate in this project and besides design, it is also likely to provide weapon systems, including sensors and electronic warfare systems, sources said.
Meanwhile, four projects under the DTTI for joint production and development were identified during delegation-level talks during Obama's visit. The projects identified under the DTTI included next-generation Raven mini-unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), roll-on, roll-off intelligence kits for C-130 transport aircraft and mobile electric hybrid power source.
Then Indian Ambassador to the US and now Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar had said these four projects were "pathfinder" schemes as they would determine how to go forward in Defence co-development. Of these, two projects were with the US companies, while two were with the US Government. Carter and Parrikar will give the go-ahead to these projects after reviewing their progress, sources said.
In a related-development ahead of the Defence Secretary's visit, the US House of Representatives on Friday last passed an amendment calling for expansion of the India-US Defence co-operation and welcomed India's role in providing security in the India-Pacific region.
The amendment to the National Defence Authorisation Act (NDAA) 2016 was moved by a bipartisan group of Congressmen, including Vice-Chair of Democratic Caucus Joe Crowley.
The amendment urges the US Government to back the US-India Defence Framework Agreement and DTTI besides lauding the role India plays in providing security and stability in the India-Pacific region and beyond.