The US is working to deepen ties with India and sees stronger military-to-military and
technology ties as a key counterweight to China’s dominance in the region. It is also seeking
to wean India away from its traditional dependence on Russia for defence supplies.
US Secretary of Defence, General Lloyd Austin visited India on 4-5 June in what was his
second visit, with the aim of reinforcing India-US major defence partnership, and advancing
cooperation in critical domains. Significantly, this visit was scheduled ahead of Prime
Minister Narendra Modi’s official state visit to the United States on 22 June. His previous visit
to India was in March 2021.
Shortly after landing he tweeted; “I’m returning to India to meet with key leaders for
discussions about strengthening our Major Defence Partnership. Together, we’re advancing
a shared vision for a free and open Indo-Pacific.”
THE INTERACTIONS
The Secretary of Defence met Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and National Security
Advisor Ajit Doval. They exchanged perspectives on a range of regional security issues. The
US committed to collaborating closely with India in support of the shared vision for a free and
open Indo-Pacific.
India and the United States also concluded a roadmap for defence industry cooperation for
the next few years, the two countries said on Monday. It’s a landmark move expected to
bolster New Delhi’s defence manufacturing ambitions.
The US is working to deepen ties with India and sees stronger military-to-military and
technology ties as a key counterweight to China’s dominance in the region. It is also seeking
to wean India away from its traditional dependence on Russia for defence supplies.
The roadmap was finalised at a meeting between visiting Lloyd Austin and Rajnath Singh.
The roadmap is considered significant as Washington maintains strict controls over what
domestic military technology can be shared or sold to other countries.
TECHNOLOGY COOPERATION
US-India Defence Industrial Cooperation aims at fast-tracking technology cooperation and
co-production in areas such as air combat and land mobility systems; intelligence,
surveillance, and reconnaissance; munitions; and the undersea domain.
This initiative aims to “change the paradigm for cooperation” between the US and Indian
defence sectors, including a set of specific proposals that could provide India access to
cutting-edge technologies and support India’s defence modernization plans.
Rajnath Singh and Lloyd Austin also pledged to review regulatory hurdles impeding closer
industry-to-industry cooperation and to initiate negotiations on a Security of Supply
Arrangement and a Reciprocal Defence Procurement Agreement, which will promote long-
term supply chain stability.
India depends on Russia for nearly half its military supplies but has also increasingly
diversified its sources to buy from the US, France and Israel, among others.
India also wants global defence manufacturers to partner with Indian companies and
produce arms and military equipment in India for local consumption as well as exports.
The Biden administration is likely to sign a deal that will allow General Electric Co to produce
jet engines in India, powering Indian military aircraft. Engaging in this level of conversation
regarding sharing critical technology is no doubt a pointer regarding both the importance and
intensity of the relationship.
NEW INITIATIVES
The two sides also discussed the growing importance of defence innovation and cooperation
in emerging domains such as space, cyberspace, and artificial intelligence. They praised the
recent launch of a new Advanced Domains Defence Dialogue and committed to expanding
the scope of Bilateral Defence Cooperation to encompass all domains.
The Indo-US Defence Acceleration Ecosystem (INDUS-X), a new initiative to advance
cutting-edge technology cooperation is also being proposed. The initiative will be launched
by the US-India Business Council on 21 June and is designed to complement existing
government-to-government collaboration by promoting innovative partnerships between US
and Indian companies, investors, start-up accelerators, and academic research institutions.
The US aims to bring India’s military capabilities to the level where it integrates with the US’
next level of integrated deterrence called Joint All Domain Command and Control (JADC2)
strategy.
Lloyd Austin and Rajnath Singh also discussed ways to increase information sharing and
new initiatives to improve maritime cooperation, including in the undersea domain.
CONTOURS OF THE RELATIONSHIP
Since the signing of the Framework for US-India Defence Relationship in 2005 (which was
renewed in 2015), bilateral defence engagement between the two countries has come a long
way. The US has also designated India as a “Major Defence Partner (MDP)” in 2016, a
status unique to India. It is supposed to have made India more or less at par with the closest
allies of the US.
Amongst the Foundational Agreements signed are the Defence Technologies and Trade
Initiative (DTTI) in 2012, Logistics Exchange Memorandum of Agreement (LEMOA), 2016,
Communications Compatibility and Security Agreement (COMCASA) in 2018, Basic
Exchange and Cooperation Agreement (BECA) 2020 and Initiative on Critical and Emerging
Technologies (iCET) in 2022. India had been added to the Strategic Trade Authorisation-1
(STA-1) list of the US, in 2018 which is critical to easing export controls for high-technology
product sales.
Both nations conduct a number of joint exercises at bilateral and multilateral levels. India has
bought US military systems and platforms worth more than 21 billion dollars in the last few
years to include C-130J planes, C-17 Transporters, P-81 Maritime Reconnaissance Aircraft,
CH-47 Chinook Helicopters, Harpoon Anti-Ship missiles, M777 Howitzers, and MH-80
Seahawk Maritime helicopters.
In May 2018, the then Secretary of Defence General Jim Mattis also renamed the Pacific
Command as the Indo-US Pacific Command.
THE U.S. VIEW
General Austin stated that the US-India defence partnership matters, because “we face a
rapidly changing world.” “We see bullying and coercion from the People’s Republic of China,
Russian aggression against Ukraine that seeks to redraw borders by force and threatens
national sovereignty, as well as transnational challenges such as terrorism, and climate
change. So, democracies must now rally together around not just our common interests but
also our shared values,” Austin said.
Keeping this and India’s leading role as a security provider in the Indo-Pacific Secretary
Austin welcomed India’s leadership role in the Quad Indo-Pacific Maritime Domain
Awareness Initiative (IPMDA), which aims at providing cutting-edge domain awareness
capability to countries across the Indo-Pacific region.
INTEGRATED DETERRENCE
In April 2021, General Austin had stated, “the cornerstone of America’s defence is still
deterrence, ensuring that our adversaries understand the folly of outright conflict”.
In 2022, he said “integrated deterrence will be a key factor of the new National Defence
Strategy, which seeks to address major threats to national security and the international
rules-based order.” “Integrated deterrence means using all of the capabilities in all
warfighting domains: Air, land, sea, space and cyber.”
While speaking at the Shangri La Dialogue, General Austin said, “The Indo-Pacific is at the
heart of American grand strategy… Our security alliances and partnerships in the Indo-
Pacific are a profound source of stability. So, our integrated deterrence in the region will
continue to centre on our ties with our proud treaty allies: Australia, Japan, the Philippines,
South Korea, and Thailand. And we remain unwavering in our mutual-defence
commitments… At the same time, we’re also weaving closer ties with other partners. I’m
especially thinking of India, the world’s largest democracy. We believe that its growing
military capability and technological prowess can be a stabilizing force in the region.”
General Mark Miller, the US Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff has stated that the “JADC2
strategy requires all Services to be networked to bring information into a single operating
centre.” “Acting seamlessly as one Joint Force across all the domains at machine speed.”
The underlying idea of JADC2 would be to make data/information from all war domains
available to every participant including allies and partners in their command-and-control
centres.
CHALLENGES
There is no doubt that the relationship between the two countries is strong and has been on
an upward arc over the past few decades irrespective of the party in power both in India and
in the US. However, there are issues that affect the relationship. Amongst these are, the US
still feels that India is aligned towards Russia and has not supported it in the ongoing conflict
in Ukraine.
Their interpretation of the Indo-Pacific does not match. While India defines it to include both
the Pacific and Indian Oceans, from the west coast of the US to the east coast of Africa, the
US views the Indo-Pacific from the west coast of the US to the shores of India. That could be
one of the reasons why General Austin met with the Japanese Defence Minister Yasukasu
Hamada, the Australian Defence Minister Richard Marles and their Philippines counterpart
Carlito Galvez in Singapore on the side-lines of the Shangri La Dialogue on 3 June, where
they talked about the importance of building a networked security architecture in the Indo-
Pacific.
India on its part is not ready to join any alliance and retains its strategic sovereignty while the
US would like it to be part of an alliance. Pakistan is another issue and there is no doubt that
Pakistan has used US funding and military equipment against India in the past and even
now the US has approved funding for spares for the Pakistan F-16 fleet.
The other fact what endures is that countries always place their interests above all else and
this is true in case of the US also. During 1971 they were willing to overlook the genocide in
East Pakistan as Nixon and Kissinger were focused on building ties with China using
Pakistan as the conduit. More recently, 9/11 changed the priorities, policies and direction of
the US and now in spite of “the stated pivot towards Asia” in order to counter the
assertiveness of China, the Ukrainian conflict has once again resulted in efforts being
directed towards Europe and against Russia. This is a serious inconsistency which affects
relationships.
Presently, China is the threat which both countries have to confront and in turn is binding
both nations as regards their security interests. But India sees China in terms of a
continental threat in the Himalayas as well as a maritime threat in the Indian Ocean,
whereas most US analysts look at the threat from China in terms of the South China Sea
and Taiwan Strait.
CONCLUSION
Defence cooperation has emerged “as the most significant dimension” of the India-US
Strategic Partnership and “a key driver” of the bilateral relationship in recent years. While
both countries are committed to strengthen operational collaboration across all defence
domains, the US realises that it needs to support India due to its strategic significance and
leading role in the security framework of the Indo-Pacific in view of the expansionism and
belligerence of China. The challenge for the US in deepening defence ties is to be able to
share sensitive defence technology most of which is developed by private companies, while
retaining the essence of these technologies.