NEW DELHI (AP) — U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on Monday spoke of an improved partnership with India, a major arms buyer, as both countries grapple with rising economic China and rising belligerence, officials said.
Austin met with Indian Defense Minister Rajnath Singh, and both sides emphasized technology partnerships such as defense, clean energy and space. India is working to boost its domestic defense industry by acquiring technology and reducing dependence on imports, particularly from Russia, its biggest supplier of military hardware despite the ongoing war in Ukraine.
“I am returning to India to meet with key leaders to discuss strengthening our Greater Defense Partnership. Together, we are advancing a shared vision for a free and open Indo-Pacific,” Austin tweeted later of his arrival in New Delhi on Sunday.
Austin, who is on his second visit to India, was expected to lay the groundwork for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Washington on June 22, which has fueled speculation about a possible defense contract announcement .
India is looking to buy 18 high-altitude armed long-duration unmanned aerial vehicles from General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc. for an estimated $1.5 billion to $2 billion, said Rahul Bedi, a defense analyst. The UAVs would likely be deployed along its uneasy borders with China and Pakistan and in the strategic Indian Ocean region, Bedi said.
Indian media said joint production and manufacturing of fighter jet engines, infantry fighting vehicles, howitzers and their precision artillery was discussed last month in Washington at a Policy Group meeting of Defense of the United States and India.
Austin arrived in New Delhi from Singapore, where he attended the Shangri-La Dialogue, an annual forum that brings together senior defense officials, diplomats and leaders. Austin pressed for support for Washington’s vision of a “free, open and secure Indo-Pacific within a world of rules and rights” as the best way to counter rising Chinese assertiveness in the region.
China’s Defense Minister, General Li Shangfu, told the conference that the United States has been “deceiving and exploiting” Asia-Pacific nations to advance its own interests to preserve “its dominant position “.
He suggested that Washington has been maintaining alliances that are “remnants of the Cold War” and establishing new pacts, such as the AUKUS agreement with Britain and Australia and the Quad grouping with Australia, India and Japan, “to divide the world ideologically”. – driven camps and provoke confrontations”.
India is attempting a balancing act in its ties with Washington and Moscow, and has been reducing its dependence on Russian arms by also buying from the US, France, Germany and other countries.
US defense trade with India has increased from almost zero in 2008 to over $20 billion in 2020. Major Indian purchases from the US included long-range maritime patrol aircraft, C-130 transport aircraft , missiles and drones.
Experts say up to 60 percent of India’s defense equipment comes from Russia, putting New Delhi in a quandary at a time when it faces a three-year border standoff with China east of Ladakh, where there are tens of thousands of soldiers. parked within shooting distance. Twenty Indian soldiers and four Chinese troops were killed in a clash in 2020.
