Defence Minister Rajnath Singh holds talks in Washington with his counterpart, Lloyd Austin

Defence ministers discuss defence cooperation, industrial collaboration and regional security

 

By Ajai Shukla

Business Standard, 24th Aug 24

 

On a four-day visit to the US, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh held bilateral talks on Friday with his US counterpart, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin.

 

In a statement issued on Saturday in New Delhi, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) stated: “They held wide-ranging discussions on bilateral defence cooperation, industrial collaboration, regional security and other international issues.”

  

Both ministers expressed happiness at the successful conclusion on Friday of the Security of Supplies Arrangement (SOSA) between India and US.

 

The SOSA, signed yesterday in Washington DC, encourages the defence industrial ecosystems of both countries to work together, and enhances the resilience of the defence supply chain.

 

Austin and Rajnath Singh also welcomed the signing of a Memorandum of Agreement between India and US regarding the deployment of liaison officers (LOs). India shall be accordingly deploying the first LO to the Headquarters Special Operations Command in Florida, US.

 

Rajnath Singh highlighted the various co-development and co-production opportunities in India in the areas identified in the India-US Defence Industrial Cooperation Roadmap, which was adopted last year.

 

Both ministers appreciated the progress made in operationalising the Indo-Pacific Maritime Domain Awareness (MDA) – a Quadrilateral initiative. They lauded India’s ongoing efforts to enhance MDA for the other three partners in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR).

 

They welcomed the ongoing Indian participation in the Combined Maritime Forces (CMF) and noted that India shall deploy Indian Navy personnel in CMF's Combined Task Force 150 headquarters in 2025.

 

Austin and Rajnath commended the efforts of the India-US Defence Acceleration Ecosystem (INDUS-X) for establishing the Defence Innovation bridge between the two countries. They appreciated INDUS-X establishing robust networks across start-ups, industry, academia, and governments, accelerating the adoption of cutting-edge technologies and enhancing war-fighting capabilities of both sides. 

 

“The upcoming INDUS-X Silicon Valley Summit in September 2024 shall witness announcements of several key initiatives,” said a statement on Saturday by the Indian MoD.

 

Rajnath Singh also interacted with the heads of leading US defence companies on Friday at an industry round-table organised by US India Strategic Partnership Forum (USI-SPF). 

 

In attendance was the senior leadership of Boeing, GE,  General Atomics, General Dynamics Land Systems, L3 Harris, Lockheed Martin, Raytheon Technologies,  Rolls Royce, and ThayerMahan.

 

In addition, a few Indian companies such as ideaForge, Tata Sons and Tsecond, along with senior leaders from The Cohen Group, attended the interaction with the Raksha Mantri. 

 

The meeting at the Pentagon was preceded by a solemn wreath laying ceremony by Rajnath Singh at the Arlington National Cemetery. 

 

The two ministers are scheduled to meet again at the next India-US 2+2 Ministerial Dialogue.