The United States is in active talks with the Indian government to look at producing military systems in areas related to ISR and ground-based conventional warfare, a senior Pentagon official said.
Efforts are also on to establish a reciprocal defence procurement agreement with India, Siddharth Iyer, Director for South Asia Policy, Office of the Secretary of Defence said on Tuesday at an event organised by the prestigious Hudson Institute in Washington.
“We are in active talks with the Indian government to look at producing military systems in areas related to ISR (Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance), and then of course ground-based conventional warfare. And we’ll have more to say on that as they become ripe,” he said.
Pentagon official says US and India making good progress in securing defence equipment
Indian-American Iyer said the talks between India and the US to finalise the security of supply arrangement, which would streamline the ability of defence firms to procure their requirements, is making good progress.
“We are also moving at an aggressive clip to establish a reciprocal defence procurement agreement, which would allow and create the conditions for US and Indian defence industries to increase and streamline market access,” he said.
This relationship is one of the top priorities for the Pentagon, Iyer said. “Our belief is that getting the US-India relationship right is not just necessary, it’s essential to achieving our strategy in the Indo-Pacific. There’s a broad and deep commitment to making that happen,” he said.
“I think one of the ways in which we think about the road map is really a manifestation of (Defence) Secretary (Loyd) Austin’s commitment to accelerating India’s military modernisation, and for him, putting the department on the hook to find targeted opportunities to propose to advance India’s indigenous defence production capabilities,” he said.
The India-US defence road map, Iyer said, among other things, identifies the priority military areas where their industries should focus their collaborative efforts.
It identifies some concrete mechanisms by which they can work together to integrate the supply chains. And then ultimately, it also establishes the oversight mechanism to ensure that bureaucratic logjams and regulatory barriers don’t impede progress.
(With inputs from agency)
Also Read: US is grateful to India, PM Modi for G20 presidency: White House on 'productive' summit
