India and the United States Friday discussed the recent pact between GE Aerospace and Hindustan Aeronautical Limited (HAL) to manufacture GE F-414 jet engines in India and the procurement of 31 General Atomics MQ-9B remotely piloted aircraft as both sides sought to expand and diversify partnership and cooperation in the defence sector. This was discussed between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the US President Joe Biden in a bilateral meeting on the eve of the G20 meeting scheduled on the weekend. While these critical defence pacts and the procurement was announced during PM Modi’s State visit to the US in June this year, the meeting will likely expedite their progress. A joint statement issued by India and the US said PM Modi and President Biden reaffirmed their commitment to deepen and diversify the India-U.S. Major Defence Partnership through expanded cooperation in new and emerging domains such as space and AI, and accelerated defence industrial collaboration. It said the leaders welcomed completion of the Congressional Notification process on 29 August and the start of negotiations for a commercial agreement between GE Aerospace and Hindustan Aeronautical Limited (HAL) to manufacture GE F-414 jet engines in India. It added that the leaders recommitted to work “collaboratively and expeditiously” to support the advancement of this “unprecedented co-production and technology transfer proposal.” In June, GE Aerospace signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with HAL to produce fighter jet engines for the Indian Air Force and will transfer 80 percent technology for the manufacturing. The F414 engines will power the IAF’s Light Combat Aircraft Mk2 jets. Only a handful of countries such as the US, Russia, the UK, and France have been able to master these specialised technologies needed to manufacture an engine that can power a combat aircraft. It also said that President Biden welcomed the issuance of a Letter of Request from the Ministry of Defence of India to procure 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. The highly powerful RPAs can carry out precision strikes on strategic targets in mountains and the maritime domain during long-endurance missions. In June, a top government official had said that India is hopeful of having 15 to 20 percent of indigenous content in the MQ-9B UAVs, taking it up from the 8-9 percent offered by GA presently. Earlier this week, The Indian Express had reported that India has finalised the LoR and was to be issued to the US shortly. The leaders applauded the conclusion of a second Master Ship Repair Agreement, with the most recent agreement signed by the U.S. Navy and Mazgaon Dock Shipbuilders, Ltd., in August 2023. Both sides recommitted to advancing India’s emergence as a hub for the maintenance and repair of forward-deployed U.S. Navy assets and other aircraft and vessels and welcomed further commitments from U.S. industry to invest more in India’s maintenance, repair, and overhaul capabilities and facilities for aircraft. As reported by The Indian Express, this had also featured in the bilateral talks between defence minister Rajnath Singh and US secretary of defence Lloyd Austin in June. The joint statement added that the leaders commended the India-U.S. Defence Acceleration Ecosystem (INDUS-X) team for establishing a robust collaboration agenda to harness the innovative work of the U.S. and Indian defence sectors to address shared security challenges. INDUS-X had convened the inaugural Academia Start-up Partnership at IIT Kanpur, with the participation of Penn State University, and initiated the Joint Accelerator Program for Indian Startups, through a workshop led by U.S. accelerator M/s Hacking 4 Allies (H4x) and IIT Hyderabad in August 2023. Both sides also welcomed the announcement by the Indian Ministry of Defence’s Innovations for Defence Excellence and the U.S. Department of Defense’s Defense Innovation Unit to launch two joint challenges, which will invite start-ups to develop solutions to shared defence technology challenges, the joint statement added.
