The United States is in active talks with the Indian government to consider producing military systems in areas related to ISR and conventional ground warfare, a senior Pentagon official said.
Efforts are also underway to establish a reciprocal defense procurement agreement with India, Siddharth Iyer, Director of South Asia Policy at the Office of the Secretary of Defense, said here on Tuesday at an event organized by the prestigious Hudson Institute.
“We are in active discussions with the Indian government to consider the production of military systems in areas related to ISR (Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance) and then, of course, conventional ground warfare. And we will have more to say about it as they mature,” he said.
Indian-American Iyer said talks between India and the United States to finalize the security of supply agreement, which would expedite the ability of defense companies to procure their needs, are progressing apace.
“We are also moving at an aggressive pace to establish a reciprocal defense procurement agreement, which would enable and create the conditions for the US and Indian defense industries to increase and expedite market access,” he said.
This relationship is one of the Pentagon’s top priorities, Iyer said.
“We believe that achieving a good relationship between the United States and India is not only necessary, but essential to achieving our Indo-Pacific strategy. There is a broad and deep commitment to making that happen,” he said.
“I think one of the ways we think about the roadmap is actually a manifestation of (Defense) Secretary (Loyd) Austin’s commitment to accelerating India’s military modernization and, for him, putting the department on the spot. to find specific opportunities to “We propose to advance India’s indigenous defense production capabilities,” he said.
The India-US defense roadmap, Iyer said, among other things, identifies priority military areas where their industries should focus their collaborative efforts.
It identifies some concrete mechanisms by which they can work together to integrate supply chains. And then ultimately it also establishes the oversight mechanism to ensure that bureaucratic logjams and regulatory barriers do not impede progress.
“On some of the concrete initiatives, I think the GE engine deal has received the most attention in the press,” Iyer said.
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“I think it’s a testament to the importance of the agreement. It’s certainly an agreement between private companies, but governments have had to work very closely with each other, with industry, and we’ve had to take a really holistic view on how we think about technology security and what it means to advance our strategic interest and balance technology. . “The security and national security requirements of the United States are necessary for this to happen,” she said.
The deal provides India with access to jet engine technology, which is one of the most sensitive military technologies available to the United States and what many consider a crown jewel, he said.
“In the coming months, I hope we make progress on a number of different fronts,” Iyer said.
