March 22, 2023 04:06 am | Updated 07:58 am IST - NEW DELHI
After signing all the four foundational agreements to take forward strategic partnership, India and the U.S. are now working to finalise an “air information sharing agreement”, said Frank Kendall, Secretary, U.S. Air Force, on Tuesday.
Mr. Kendall, who met NSA Ajit Doval and External Affairs Minister Dr. S. Jaishankar, said the two sides are trusted partners who are sharing more intelligence which will form the basis for “additional agreements”. He specifically mentioned surveillance and joint development of jet engines and space capabilities as areas where the two sides could build together.
“The U.S. has moved forward more than it did in the past in terms of technology sharing with India. India is a major defence partner and we share security concerns. We share interest in the Indo-Pacific region and the globe as well,” said Mr. Kendall, urging for more co-production and co-development.
The two countries also continue exploring opportunities under Defence Technology and Trade Initiative (DTTI) for co-development of high-tech weapon systems as well as the much broader Initiative on Critical & Emerging Technologies (iCET).
India has now signed all four foundational agreements with the U.S.; the logistics agreement in 2016, Communications Compatibility and Security Agreement (COMCASA) in 2018 and Basic Exchange and Cooperation Agreement for Geo-Spatial cooperation (BECA) in 2020. While the General Security of Military Information Agreement (GSOMIA) was signed a long time ago, an extension to it, the Industrial Security Annex (ISA), was signed in 2019.
Recently, the two countries announced an initiative on Critical and Emerging Technologies (iCET).
In addition, the U.S. is considering an application from engine manufacturer General Electric to jointly produce the GE-414 jet engines in India to power the indigenous Light Combat Aircraft (LCA)-Mk2 and the fifth generation Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft (AMCA).
TheThirdDumpling on March 22nd, 2023 at 19:25 UTC »
India will be the biggest winner of this new cold war. Although I don't believe India 1) has military ambitions besides its border; 2) trust US completely.
It's a big country. It will likely take benefits from all sides and disappoint each one of them.
Soros_Liason_Agent on March 22nd, 2023 at 18:43 UTC »
Will be very interesting to see how this relationship develops over time, India isn't overly attached or reliant on the west and isn't as reliant on globalism as China is. From a western POV India is a democratic bulwark against China and this agreement goes someway to keeping that bulwark on friendly terms with the west.
I will be interested to see what sort of capabilities this AMCA fifth gen aircraft will have to be honest. will it be comparable to indigenous Chinese designs? The west has a bit of an edge over China in terms of engines so this could help India quite a lot in that regard.
Falls_stuff on March 22nd, 2023 at 17:46 UTC »
SS: After signing all the four foundational agreements to take forward strategic partnership, India and the U.S. are now working to finalise an “air information sharing agreement”, said Frank Kendall, Secretary, U.S. Air Force, on Tuesday. Mr. Kendall, who met NSA Ajit Doval and External Affairs Minister Dr. S. Jaishankar, said the two sides are trusted partners who are sharing more intelligence which will form the basis for “additional agreements”. He specifically mentioned surveillance and joint development of jet engines and space capabilities as areas where the two sides could build together.