Leaders encouraged industry to support India’s efforts to become a leading aviation hub
US President Joe Biden has welcomed the progress towards India concluding procurement of 31 General Atomics MQ-9B (16 Sky Guardian and 15 Sea Guardian) remotely piloted aircraft and their associated equipment, which will enhance the intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) capabilities of India’s armed forces across all domains investindia .
President Biden and Prime Minister Narendra Modi also affirmed that the US-India Comprehensive Global and Strategic Partnership, the defining partnership of the 21st century, is decisively delivering on an ambitious agenda that serves the global good, the Prime Minister’s Office said on 22 Sept nseindia .
The Leaders recognized the remarkable progress under the US-India Defense Industrial Cooperation Roadmap, including ongoing collaboration to advance priority co-production arrangements for jet engines, munitions, and ground mobility systems bseindia .
They also welcomed efforts to expand defense industrial partnerships, including the teaming of Liquid Robotics and Sagar Defence Engineering for the co-development and co-production of unmanned surface vehicle systems that strengthen undersea and maritime domain awareness sbi
The Leaders applauded the recent conclusion of the Security of Supply Arrangement (SOSA), enhancing the mutual supply of defense goods and services. Both Leaders committed to advance ongoing discussions on aligning their respective defense procurement systems to further enable the reciprocal supply of defense goods and services pmindia .
President Biden welcomed India’s decision to set a uniform Goods and Services Tax (GST) of 5% 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 Leaders also encouraged the industry to foster collaboration and drive innovation to support India’s efforts to become a leading aviation hub. The Leaders welcomed commitments from US industry to further increase India’s MRO capabilities, including for the repair of aircraft and unmanned aerial vehicles usispf .
The Leaders hailed 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 US-India CEO Forum. Building on longstanding industry cooperation, this agreement will 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. This marks a significant step in US-India defense and aerospace cooperation and reflects the two sides’ deepening strategic and technology partnership ties deutsche-boerse .
The Leaders lauded the growing defense innovation collaboration between our governments, businesses, and academic institutions fostered by the India-US Defense Acceleration Ecosystem (INDUS-X) initiative launched in 2023, and noted progress achieved during the third INDUS-X Summit in Silicon Valley earlier this month. They welcomed the enhanced collaboration between the Indian Ministry of Defence’s Innovations for Defence Excellence (iDEX) and US Department of Defence’s Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) through the Memorandum of Understanding signed at the Silicon Valley Summit. The efforts via the INDUSWERX consortium to facilitate pathways for defense and dual-use companies in the INDUS-X network to access premier testing ranges in both countries, were appreciated mod.gov.in.
The Leaders also recognized the clear fulfillment of the shared goal to build a defense innovation bridge under INDUS-X through the launch of “joint challenges” designed by the US DoD’S DIU and the Indian MoD’s Defence Innovation Organization (DIO). In 2024, our governments have separately awarded US$1+ million to US and Indian companies that developed technologies focused on undersea communications and maritime intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR). Building on this success, a new challenge was announced at the most recent INDUS-X Summit that focused on Space Situational Awareness (SSA) in the Low Earth Orbit (LEO).
The Leaders welcomed ongoing efforts to deepen our military partnership and interoperability to maintain a free and open Indo-Pacific, noting that India hosted our most complex, largest bilateral, tri-service exercise to date during the March 2024 TIGER TRIUMPH exercise. They also welcomed the inclusion of new technologies and capabilities, including a first-ever demonstration of the Javelin and Stryker systems in India, on the margins of the ongoing bilateral Army YUDH ABHYAS exercise.
The Leaders welcomed the conclusion of the Memorandum of Agreement regarding the Deployment of Liaison Officers, and the commencement of deployment process of the first Liaison Officer from India in US Special Operations Command (SOCOM).
The Leaders commended work to advance cooperation in advanced domains, including space and cyber, and looked forward towards the November 2024 bilateral cyber engagement to enhance the US-India cyber cooperation framework. Areas of new cooperation will include threat information sharing, cybersecurity training, and collaboration on vulnerability mitigation in energy and telecommunications networks. The Leaders also noted the second US-India Advanced Domains Defense Dialogue in May 2024, which included the first-ever bilateral defense space table-top exercise.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi also participated in the sixth Quad Leaders’ Summit in Wilmington, Delaware, on 21 Sept 2024 during his three day visit. fiinews.com
