US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin will pay a two-day visit to India beginning Sunday to discuss ways to further expand bilateral strategic engagement ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s trip to Washington.
People familiar with Austin’s visit said he and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh are set to discuss a number of new defence cooperation projects that are set to be unveiled after Modi’s talks with President Joe Biden in Washington over two weeks later.
The General Electric’s proposal to share technology with India for fighter jet engines and India’s plan to procure 30 MQ-9B armed drones at a cost of over USD 3 billion from US defence major General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc (GA-ASI) are likely to figure in the Singh-Austin talks on Monday.
India has been looking for manufacturing of jet engines in India under the framework of technology transfer to power its fighter aircraft.
China’s aggressive behaviour in the Indo-Pacific as well as along the Line of Actual Control and ways to combat the threat of terrorism are also likely to figure in the discussions between Singh and Austin.
Separately, Germany’s Federal Minister of Defence Boris Pistorius will arrive in India on Monday on a four-day visit.
The Pentagon said in a statement this week that Austin will further deepen the US-India ‘Major Defence Partnership’ as ties between the two countries enter a “new and exciting chapter”.
