While Trade and Tarriffs was seen as an issue which would be the main focus, during Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s short yet eventful visit to the United States on 12 and 13 February defence emerged as the core of future Indo US relations
Thus the Summit marked by several important decisions by both leaders -Mr Modi and US President Donald Trump tend to emphasis on the defence relations. This is evident from the primacy given to Defence in the Indo US Joint Statement where it was the first amongst other issues that were covered.
On defence the India - U.S. Joint Statement highlighted that President Trump and Prime Minister Modi launched a new initiative – the "U.S.-India COMPACT (Catalyzing Opportunities for Military Partnership, Accelerated Commerce & Technology) for the 21st Century” – to drive transformative change across key pillars of cooperation.
The Details of the Defence Part of the Statement is extracted as given below in original -
Highlighting the deepening convergence of U.S.-India strategic interests, the leaders reaffirmed their unwavering commitment to a dynamic defense partnership spanning multiple domains. To advance defense ties further, the leaders announced plans to sign this year a new ten-year Framework for the U.S.-India Major Defense Partnership in the 21st Century. The leaders welcomed the significant integration of U.S.-origin defense items into India's inventory to date, including C‑130J Super Hercules, C‑17 Globemaster III, P‑8I Poseidon aircraft; CH‑47F Chinooks, MH‑60R Seahawks, and AH‑64E Apaches; Harpoon anti-ship missiles; M777 howitzers; and MQ‑9Bs. The leaders determined that the U.S. would expand defense sales and co-production with India to strengthen interoperability and defense industrial cooperation. They announced plans to pursue this year new procurements and co-production arrangements for "Javelin” Anti-Tank Guided Missiles and "Stryker” Infantry Combat Vehicles in India to rapidly meet India’s defense requirements. They also expect completion of procurement for six additional P-8I Maritime Patrol aircraft to enhance India’s maritime surveillance reach in the Indian Ocean Region following agreement on sale terms.
Recognizing that India is a Major Defense Partner with Strategic Trade Authorization-1 (STA‑1) authorization and a key Quad partner, the U.S. and India will review their respective arms transfer regulations, including International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR), in order to streamline defense trade, technology exchange and maintenance, spare supplies and in-country repair and overhaul of U.S.-provided defense systems. The leaders also called for opening negotiations this year for a Reciprocal Defense Procurement (RDP) agreement to better align their procurement systems and enable the reciprocal supply of defense goods and services. The leaders pledged to accelerate defense technology cooperation across space, air defense, missile, maritime and undersea technologies, with the U.S. announcing a review of its policy on releasing fifth generation fighters and undersea systems to India. Building on the U.S.-India Roadmap for Defense Industrial Cooperation and recognizing the rising importance of autonomous systems, the leaders announced a new initiative - the Autonomous Systems Industry Alliance (ASIA) - to scale industry partnerships and production in the Indo-Pacific.
The leaders welcomed a new partnership between Anduril Industries and Mahindra Group on advanced autonomous technologies to co-develop and co-produce state-of-the-art maritime systems and advanced AI-enabled counter Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) to strengthen regional security, and between L3 Harris and Bharat Electronics for co-development of active towed array systems. The leaders also pledged to elevate military cooperation across all domains – air, land, sea, space, and cyberspace – through enhanced training, exercises, and operations, incorporating the latest technologies. The leaders welcomed the forthcoming "Tiger Triumph” tri-service exercise (first inaugurated in 2019) with larger scale and complexity to be hosted in India. Finally, the leaders committed to break new ground to support and sustain the overseas deployments of the U.S. and Indian militaries in the Indo-Pacific, including enhanced logistics and intelligence sharing, as well as arrangements to improve force mobility for joint humanitarian and disaster relief operations along with other exchanges and security cooperation engagements.
PM At the Joint Press Conference
Importantly in the Press Statement by Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the India - USA Joint Press Conference again he gave primacy to defence including it as the first point thus, “America has an important role in India's defense preparedness. As strategic and trusted partners, we are actively moving in the direction of joint development, joint production and transfer of technology. In the coming time, new technology and equipment will increase our capability. We have decided to launch the Autonomous Systems Industry Alliance. The Defence Cooperation Framework will be created for the next decade. Defence inter-operability, logistics, repair and maintenance will also be its main parts”.
Foreign Secretary Media Meet
Shri Vikram Misri, Foreign Secretary of India in his briefing to the media also emphasized on defence and emphasized some of the major points thus -
Defense as was pointed out by both leaders remains a very important area of cooperation in the strategic partnership between the two countries. The leaders announced plans to finalize a new 10-year framework for the US-India major defense partnership in the 21st century. This is a framework that will run from 2025 to 2035 and is expected to be finalized later this year. They also agreed to move forward on ongoing defence procurement negotiations for a number of platforms including land and air systems as well as co-production agreements. There was also agreement to initiate discussions on the reciprocal defence procurement agreement. One of the striking aspects of the joint statement in this regard is a process that the United States will begin whereby it will review its arms transfer regulations including the international traffic in arms regulations in order to streamline defence trade, technology exchange and maintenance, spare supplies and in-country repair and overhaul of US-provided defence systems. The two countries have also launched the Autonomous Systems Industry Alliance to scale industry partnerships and production of autonomous systems which will foster next generation defence and technological collaboration, specifically in the field of underwater domain awareness.
You're also aware that for the last several years, technology has become a motive of the India-US partnership and the two leaders in this latest round of discussions committed to taking forward cooperation in critical and emerging technologies by launching the US-India TRUST Initiative. The TRUST Initiative stands for Transforming the Relationship Utilizing Strategic Technology. This initiative will catalyse collaboration among governments, academia and the private sector to drive innovation in defence, artificial intelligence, semiconductors, quantum computing, biotechnology, energy and space. Artificial intelligence is on everybody's mind. We just had the AI Action Summit in Paris which the Prime Minister had co-chaired. And in today's discussions, the leaders committed to bring Indian and US private industry together and conclude a US-India roadmap on accelerating AI infrastructure by the end of the year. Both the countries will work together to enable industry partnerships and investments in next generation data centers on access to compute and processors for artificial intelligence.
The two leaders launched Indus Innovation, a new innovation bridge that is modelled after the successful IndusX platform for defence applications. Indus Innovation is meant to focus on space, on energy and other emerging technologies.
Cautionary Note by Foreign Secretary
In response to a question Shri Vikram Misri, Foreign Secretary of India was more cautious and said, ...”on military sales to India, look there is a process by which platforms are acquired. You are well aware of that process. There is, in most cases, a request for proposals that is floated. There are responses to those. They are evaluated. I don't think with regard to the acquisition of an advanced aviation platform by India, that process has started as yet. So this is currently something that's at the stage of a proposal. But I don't think the formal process in this regard has started as yet”.
US Regulations on Transfer of Technology
For India the hope and focus is on transfer of technology. The caution is well advised as United States has several regulations and policies governing the transfer of defense technology. For instance the DoD Domestic Technology Transfer Program, outlined in DoD Instruction 5535.08, establishes policies, assigns responsibilities, and prescribes procedures for the transfer of technology within the Department of Defense (DoD) and to other entities. It aims to promote the transfer of technology to achieve national security objectives. This policy, approved in 2018, aligns conventional arms transfers with U.S. national and economic interests. It aims to equip allies and partners to contribute to shared security objectives, enhance global deterrence, and maintain the U.S. technological edge.
Defense Trade Cooperation Treaties with Australia and the United Kingdom provide a framework for the transfer of defence articles without a license or other written authorization. They aim to simplify the movement and sharing of equipment and information between the nations. Now India as Major Defense Partner with Strategic Trade Authorization-1 (STA‑1) authorization is possibly falling in the league behind the US allies though there is always a gap between summit statements and deliverable.
Note - Details are extracts from the Ministry of Defence and Press Information Bureau releases.
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