India, US eye boost in ties across key sectors

Singh arrived in Washington on August 22 on a four-day visit that is being closely watched as India is negotiating deals worth billions of dollars with the US

Defence minister Rajnath Singh met US national security advisor Jake Sullivan and secretary of defence Lloyd Austin in Washington on Friday for extensive talks that spanned an array of critical areas including the impact of global developments on geopolitics, pressing regional security dynamics, broadening cooperation in the Indo-Pacific region and deepening defence industrial collaboration.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh with US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, in Washington, on Friday. (ANI)

The meetings took place on a day the US Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) provided a formal notification to Congress of a possible foreign military sale to India of critical anti-submarine warfare equipment to strengthen the Indian Navy’s capabilities.

“They (Singh and Sullivan) deliberated on the evolving geopolitical situation and certain key regional security issues. They also discussed the ongoing defence industrial collaboration projects between India and the US, and potential areas where the industries of the two countries could work together,” the Indian defence ministry said in a statement on Saturday.

Singh arrived in Washington on August 22 on a four-day visit that is being closely watched as India is negotiating deals worth billions of dollars with the US, including the purchase of the MQ-9B remotely piloted aircraft systems and the joint production of GE Aerospace’s F414 engines in the country.

The Indian Navy is also looking at tying up with HawkEye 360, a US-based commercial operator of remote-sensing satellites, as part of the Indo-Pacific Maritime Domain Awareness, a Quad initiative for real-time, integrated and effective maritime domain awareness in the crucial region. The Quad nations are India, the US, Japan, and Australia.

Singh and Austin discussed ongoing efforts to deepen the major defence partnership between the two countries in support of a “free and open Indo-Pacific region, the Pentagon said.

The two leaders also agreed to advance priority co-production projects, including jet engines, unmanned platforms, munitions, and ground mobility systems under the US-India Roadmap for Defense Industrial Cooperation adopted last year.

“Secretary Austin and Minister Singh celebrated progress across several bilateral defence initiatives, including efforts to increase supply chain security, enhance maritime security in the Indian Ocean Region, and leverage a new agreement to strengthen operational coordination through Indian liaison officers at US commands,” Pentagon press secretary Major General Pat Ryder said in a statement.

The two sides agreed to further strengthen cooperation in the Indo-Pacific at a time when the region is in focus because of China’s carefully calculated power play for influence.

Austin lauded the Indian Navy’s “robust contributions to upholding freedom of navigation and regional security” through its participation in the Combined Maritime Forces and welcomed India assuming a leadership role in Combined Task Force 150 in 2025.

The two ministers reviewed mutual efforts through the Indo-Pacific Maritime Domain Awareness initiative to provide Indian Ocean Region partners with unclassified, commercial satellite data to enhance their maritime security and ability to detect illicit activity, the statement said.

It added that the two countries also advanced discussions to expand cooperation in the undersea and space domains.

On Friday, US secretary of state Antony Blinken approved a possible foreign military sale to India of anti-submarine warfare sonobuoys and related equipment for an estimated cost of $52.8 million.

The Pentagon statement followed an Indian defence ministry release on Singh-Austin talks.

They met a day after India and the US signed two key agreements to bolster defence cooperation --- the Security of Supply Arrangement (SOSA) to ensure the mutual supply of defence goods and services to resolve unanticipated supply chain disruptions, and a memorandum of agreement regarding the assignment of liaison officers to enhance cooperation and interoperability.

Under the second agreement, India will deploy its first liaison officer to the US Special Operations Command, which is headquartered at the MacDill air force base in Florida.