India, U.S. to jointly make sonobuoys for Indian Navy

In a significant development, India and the U.S. announced cooperation on co-production of U.S. sonobuoys for Undersea Domain Awareness (UDA) for the Indian Navy, a high-end technology that allows tracking submarines in the deep seas and oceans.

This is the latest in a series of cooperation measures between the two countries as both grow wary of the rapid expansion of Chinese naval presence in the Indian Ocean Region.

“Welcoming the advancement of discussions between Ultra Maritime (UM) and Bharat Dynamics Limited (BDL) to enhance undersea domain awareness through a first-of-its-kind partnership on co-production of U.S. sonobuoys in support of the U.S. and Indian defence industrial bases,” said a fact sheet ‘The U.S. and India Committed to Strengthening Strategic Technology Partnership’ issued on January 6 at the end of U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan’s visit to India on the aspect of deepening defence innovation and industrial cooperation.

Mr. Sullivan, on his final trip to the region as NSA, held a capstone meeting with his Indian counterpart Ajit Doval.

“In line with the U.S.-India Initiative on Critical and Emerging Technologies (ICET) launched in May 2022, the Ultra Maritime and BDL teams will also pursue new sonobuoy technologies to optimize their acoustic performance in the unique environment of the Indian Ocean, enabling wide area search through bespoke multi-static active solutions,” Ultra Marine, a U.S.-based world-leader in the design and production of undersea warfare capabilities, said in a statement.

They will jointly supply and manufacture sonobuoys for the Indian Navy as per U.S. Navy standards, with production split across the U.S. and India, in accordance with ‘Make in India’ principles, it stated.

“The announcement today by NSA Jake Sullivan reflects Ultra Maritime’s commitment to the Indian Navy in partnering with BDL for production and delivery of world-class sonobuoys, and our resolute commitment to continue to develop forward leaning solutions to unique undersea challenges,” said Ultra Maritime CEO Carlo Zaffanella in the statement.

Chairman of BDL Commodore A. Madhavarao (Retd) said that BDL was completely aligned with the Indian Navy to meet the operational demand for ‘Make in India’ sonobuoys and committed to joint production with Ultra Maritime in Vishakhapatnam.

Highlighting the aspect of interoperability, a key focus area, Rear Admiral Mark Kenny (Retd), Senior Vice President at UM for Strategy and Business Development, said: “The UM sonobuoys co-produced in India are interchangeable and interoperable between U.S. Navy, Indian Navy and allied P-8, MH-60R and the MQ-9B Sea Guardian aircraft.”

This is particularly significant as India has over the years acquired a series of military platforms from the U.S. that are also operated by other countries in the region, especially Australia and Japan, all four of which comprise the Quad grouping and also hold the Malabar naval exercise. Indian Navy operates the P-8I long range maritime patrol aircraft, is inducting the MH-60R multi-role helicopters and has two MQ-9A armed High Altitude Long Endurance (HALE) Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems on lease and signed a $3.5 bn contract in October 2024 for 31 MQ-9B – 15 Sea Guardians for the Indian Navy and 16 Sky Guardians, eight each for the Army and Air Force, with deliveries to begin from January 2029.

After Maritime Domain Awareness, UDA has emerged as a key focus area for India and among the Quad. In October 2021, the then Navy Chief Adm Karambir Singh termed UDA as one of the most critical areas with regard to naval operations.

In a related move, last September, Sagar Defence Engineering Private Limited and Liquid Robotics, a Boeing company, announced partnership for the co-development and co-production of scaled Uncrewed Surface Vehicle (USV) systems for UDA for the Indian Navy with co-produced USVs expected this year.

In February 2024, speaking at an India-US defence conclave, the then Defence Secretary Giridhar Aramane, referring to the threat from China, said that to address common threats, “interoperability” was going to be a very important issue and added, “In Indo-Pacific, especially in the IOR, where we have an emerging threat from an emerging power, it is essential that we have greater collaboration in UDA. It’s going to be crucial to ensure that this part of the region will remain safe and secure for trade, commerce and prosperity.”