In a seminal bilateral summit, President Joe Biden of the United States and Prime Minister Narendra Modi reaffirmed commitment to expand India United States defence partnership.
It was a swan song for President Biden which was followed up with the QUAD Summit as the US President will demit office post Presidential elections in November this year.
The list of achievements and trajectory of India US relations particularly in the defence sector during the tenure of President Biden and Prime Minister Narendra Modi is indeed impressive.
Charting the long and steep pathway from sanctions in the 1990’s to a major defence partner two and a half decades later, India has gained much from the United States even as its traditional military technical cooperation with Russia remains shaky due to factors well known.
Yet despite the rising proximity in India US defence relations India will remain a Tier 3 partner the Tier 1 being the UK and Australia, Tier 2 – NATO, Japan and South Korea. As a key Tier 3 partner gaining particular significance due to US objective of containing the rise of China emerging as a key competitor in the Indo Pacific if not globally, India is set to benefit from military technical cooperation but restricted to 4th generation technologies and industrial cooperation in the maintenance and logistics field.
This is evident from the Joint Fact Sheet after the Modi Biden summit in Delaware named as, “United States and India Continue to Expand Comprehensive and Global Strategic Partnership,” which covers the achievements during the last four years and the way forward.
The Defence part of the joint statement is named as Powering a Next Generation Defense Partnership. This includes the planned US sales of 31 General Atomics MQ-9B (16 Sky Guardian and 15 Sea Guardian) remotely piloted aircraft and their associated equipment to enhance the intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) capabilities of India’s armed forces across all domains.
Though it is not clear if India is reassessing the project after the flight of one of the leased aircraft was aborted. Moreover, who will be operating these aircraft and what form of information acquisition and sharing needs to be clarified.
U.S.-India Defense Industrial Cooperation Roadmap identifies co-production of jet engines, munitions, and ground mobility systems. The last named is apparently Stryker a 3rd Generation platform which may upend India’s indigenous development of the Future Infantry Combat Vehicle [FICV] which is to replace the Russian origin workhorse BMP 2 - Sarath.
Indeed, in the recent deliberations of the Defence Acquisition Council headed by the Defence Minister Mr Rajnath Singh, the Ministry of Defence has approved the project for Future Ready Combat Vehicle but no mention is made of the FICV possibly keeping the field open for the Stryker which is presently being tested by the Indian Army in varied terrains.
In terms of the Javelin, the US is once again proposing a highly effective but the most expensive system in its class which has already been rejected by India.
Moreover the DRDO is concluding a series of ATGM projects which are nearing conclusion given the right impetus. For instance, the Man-Portable Anti-Tank Guided Missile (MPATGM) is due for user trials.
The engine development project for the LCA class of fighter aircraft may be in a limbo with Boeing facing supply chain difficulties.
Expansion of India’s MRO capabilities is one of the stated objectives. As the Joint Statement indicates, President Biden welcomed India’s decision to set a uniform Goods and Services Tax (GST) of 5 percent on the maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO) sector, including on all aircraft and aircraft engine parts thereby simplifying the tax structure and paving the way for building a strong ecosystem for MRO services in India.
The two leaders also encouraged the industry to foster collaboration and drive innovation to support India’s efforts to become a leading aviation hub and commitments from U.S. industry to further increase India’s MRO capabilities, including for the repair of aircraft and unmanned aerial vehicles.
The teaming agreement on the C-130J Super Hercules aircraft recently signed between Lockheed Martin and Tata Advanced Systems Limited, the two companies that co-chair the U.S.-India CEO Forum was welcomed but it appears this will be to establish a new Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO) facility in India to support the readiness of the Indian fleet and global partners who operate the C-130 Super Hercules aircraft.
Cheekily the joint statement indicates that, “this marks a significant step in U.S.-India defense and aerospace cooperation and reflects the two sides’ deepening strategic and technology partnership ties”.
The developments marked in the field of defense innovation collaboration between governments, businesses, and academic institutions fostered by the India-U.S. Defense Acceleration Ecosystem (INDUS-X) initiative launched in 2023 including Defence Excellence (iDEX) and US Department of Defence’s Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) through the Memorandum of Understanding signed at the Silicon Valley Summit need to be welcomed.
These are driven by the two National Security Advisers Mr Ajit Doval of India and Mr Jake Sullivan of the United States. Sullivan, known as one of the most brilliant national security planners of his generation in the US seems to be the key driving force complimented by Doval.
Yet these are futuristic projects and thus need to be taken with a degree of scepticism.
Indian strategic analysts would have noted that the US is sharing only 4th Generation technologies with India whereas promoting the AUKUS Pillar II with other allies as Japan and South Korea.
One wonders whether India has pitched for AUKUS Pillar II technologies which includes Undersea Capabilities, Quantum Technologies, Artificial Intelligence and Autonomy, Advanced Cyber, Hypersonic and Counter-Hypersonic Capabilities and Electronic Warfare.
While there are many facets of the India US defence cooperation which are laudable including the MRO hub, joint exercises and operational coordination, technology sharing is not one of them.
Moreover, some of these as the Stryker and Javelin will be killing India’s Atma Nirbharta in Defence projects such as FICV and ATGM development by the DRDO.
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