Rajnath Singh holds bilateral talks with US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin

New Delhi: Defence minister Rajnath Singh and US defence secretary Gen. Lloyd Austin on Monday discussed the transfer of technology by America’s General Electric to domestically manufacture engines for fighter aircraft, as well as Chinese aggression in the region and concerns over the transfer of Western technology to Pakistan which can be misused.

The General Electric (GE) collaboration with state-owned Hindustan Aeronautics to manufacture engines for fighter jets in India is likely to be announced during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the US later this month.

The two sides finalised an ambitious roadmap for US-India defence industrial cooperation, to fast-track technology cooperation and co-production in areas like air combat and land mobility systems, intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance, munitions and the undersea domain. This will give India access to cutting-edge technologies and support defence modernisation plans.

India and US also pledged to review regulatory hurdles impeding closer industry-to-industry cooperation. India and US will now initiate negotiations on a Security of Supply Arrangement and a Reciprocal Defence Procurement agreement, which will promote long-term supply chain stability.

Gen. Austin also met national security adviser Ajit Doval and discussed regional security issues and committed to collaborating closely with India in support of a “free and open” Indo-Pacific. He underscored the centrality of the US-India partnership to maintaining peace and security in the Indo-Pacific region.

“We face a rapidly changing world. We see bullying and coercion from China, Russian aggression against Ukraine that seeks to redraw the border by force and threatens national sovereignty, as well as trans-national challenges such as terrorism and climate change. So, democracies must now rally together not just around our common interest but also our shared values,” said Gen. Austin. On the possibility of further deterioration in the situation at the Line of Actual Control (LAC) between India and China, he said: “In terms of  what could happen along the LAC, I won’t get into any kind of speculation. A number of things can always happen but we want to make sure that we do everything we can to ensure that things don’t happen… part of that is been able to communicate with each other and prevent things from escalating out of control,” he said.

Gen. Austin said that the United States was not trying to establish a Nato in the Indo-Pacific. “We continue to work with like-minded countries to ensure that the region remains free and open so that commerce can prosper and ideas can continue to be exchanged. India and US share the same vision of a free and open Indo-Pacific,” he said.

”India-US partnership is critical for ensuring a free, open and rules-bound Indo-Pacific region. We look forward to closely work with the US across the domains for capacity building and further consolidating our strategic partnership,” said defence minister Rajnath Singh.