U.S., India agree on defense technology roadmap
NEW DELHI, India – The U.S. and India have agreed on a detailed roadmap for defense technology and equipment procurement.
The plan is expected to be finalized during Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Washington later this month.
According to the Press Trust of India news agency, the proposal includes the exchange of technology for the manufacture of fighter jet engines.
The news agency reported that high priority will be given to the co-development of military platforms and hardware.
The move that comes against the backdrop of the Ukraine conflict and China’s increasing muscle-flexing in the Indo-Pacific region.
The plan also involves the delivery of 30 MQ-9B armed drones to India worth more than $3 billion.
These plans were formulated during a meeting between U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and his Indian counterpart Rajnath Singh in New Delhi on Monday.
India is the largest importer of arms in the world.
Briefing reporters, Austin said the US-India partnership is a “cornerstone” for a free and open Indo-Pacific and the deepening ties showed how technological innovation and growing military cooperation between the two “great powers” can be a force for global good.
“We established an ambitious new roadmap for defense industrial cooperation with a fast-track (and) high-priority for co-development and co-production projects and to build closer ties between our defense industries,” he said.
Indian Defense Ministry in a statement said both sides will identify opportunities for the co-development of new technologies and the co-production of existing and new systems besides facilitating increasing collaboration between defense start-up ecosystems of the two countries.
“Towards these objectives, they concluded a roadmap for US-India defence industrial cooperation which shall guide the policy direction for the next few years,” it said.
Both countries will also reviewed progress on US-India initiative on Critical and Emerging Technology (iCET). The initiative aimed at to elevate and expand the strategic technology partnership and defense industrial cooperation will see a major push during Modi’s visit to Washington.
It will include areas such as artificial intelligence, quantum computing, 5G and 6G, biotech, space and semiconductors.
Have Your Say!
Have you been affected by the issues raised in this story? Please share your experiences by emailing haveyoursay@soundvision.com.
Please include a contact number if you are willing to speak to a Muslim Network TV’s representative. You can also get in touch in the following ways:
Tweet: @MuslimNetworkTV
We must take charge of our narrative. Research indicates that 92% of their Muslim coverage is negative. Help us change that.
