On 3 June 2015, U.S. Secretary of Defence Ashton Carter and India’s Minister of Defence Manohar Parrikar signed the 2015 Framework for the India-U.S. Defence Relationship. The renewal of this defence framework was agreed upon during President Obama’s visit to India in January 2015. Sameer Patil, associate fellow for national security, ethnic conflict and terrorism at Gateway House, comments on the India-U.S. defence relationship and the key features of the agreement.
Sameer Patil’s detailed analysis on the role of the private sector in the India-U.S. defence relationship is available here.
Statement:
“The successful implementation of the 2005 India-U.S. defence agreement and the $10 billion defence trade between the two countries shows that this dimension of the bilateral is the most stable. In the last 10 years, American companies like United Technologies, Boeing, Northrop Grumman, and Raytheon have expanded their presence in the Indian defence market.
India is interested in technology transfer, joint ventures and in enhancing its defence R&D as a part of ‘Make in India’. The renewal of the defence agreement offers an opportunity for American companies to expand their involvement and, more significantly, for Indian companies to participate in defence trade.
The agreement has identified four ‘pathfinder’ projects in defence technology cooperation, of which two involve American companies (Lockheed Martin and Aerovironment for ‘Roll on/roll off’ kits and Raven UAV projects respectively) and two are government-to-government projects. At present, there is no involvement of Indian public sector companies in these ‘pathfinder’ projects, which have traditionally dominated the country’s defence production.
During Obama’s visit to India in January 2015, India and the U.S. had agreed to expand and upgrade the Malabar naval exercises which will be held in October 2015. An invitation to Japan to participate in these exercises would be a natural evolution. The coming together of the three democracies – India, U.S. and Japan – will be a strong message to China, with whom both India and Japan have territorial disputes.”
For further information or interview requests, please contact:
Reetika Joshi
joshi.reetika@gatewayhouse.in
+91 88793 61671
Ashna Contractor
c.ashna@gatewayhouse.in
+91 98201 83002