US Defence Secretary to visit India in June, to review US-India Major Defence Partnership

Enhanced Indo-US collaboration in military technologies may emerge as one of the positive outcomes for Prime Minister Narendra Modi when he travels to the USA next month as officials from the two countries work on the contours of possible agreements that the two countries may ink.

While US Defence Secretary Lloyd J Austin will be in India next weekend to hold discussions with his counterpart Rajnath Singh and to review the US-India Major Defense Partnership, officials held two back to back discussions including one on cooperation on space and artificial intelligence to discuss joint projects.

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Secretary Austin’s visit comes close on the heels of the inaugural US-India Advanced Domains Defense Dialogue (AD3) in New Delhi earlier this week.

Five days before the AD3, India-US Defence Policy Group had its 17th meeting in Washington DC in which the two countries discussed promoting co-development and co-production in India involving defence companies from India and the USA. The Defence Policy Group is the apex official mechanism between the defence departments of the two countries.

In the DPG meeting, the officials deliberated on projects where Indian and US defence companies could work together. They agreed to encourage both private and government stakeholders to utilise the innovation ecosystems and promote defence start-ups.

“Secretary Austin’s visit provides an opportunity to accelerate new defence innovation and industrial cooperation initiatives and drive ongoing efforts to expand operational cooperation between the US and Indian militaries,” Pentagon said in a statement on Friday.

The visit comes weeks before Prime Minister Modi travels to the US for a state visit from June 21-24, where he will be hosted by US President Joe Biden at the White House. This will be Narendra Modi's first state visit to the US during his nine-year long reign as prime minister.

The two countries are working on finalising agreements that may be inked during the Modi visit.

Before arriving in New Delhi, Secretary Austin will be travelling to Japan on a bilateral visit and address the 20th Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore, organised by the International Institute for Strategic Studies.

On the margins of the Dialogue, the top US official will meet with key leaders to advance US defense partnerships across the region in support of Washington’s vision for a free and open Indo-Pacific, anchored in ASEAN centrality. Similar issues are likely to come up for discussion when he meets Defence Minister Rajnath Singh in New Delhi.

Meanwhile, Singh will be travelling to Nigeria between May 28-30 to attend the swearing-in ceremony of President-elect Bola Ahmed Tinubu. This would be the first ever visit by an Indian Defence Minister to the West African nation.