India, US discuss Stryker deal, talks on the F-414 engine deal are on course, says Defence Secretary

New Delhi: India and USA are discussing “co-development and co-production” of Stryker Infantry Combat Vehicle in India, months after Washington offered such top-of-the-line military equipment to New Delhi, a top official said here on Friday after the Indo-US 2+2 meeting involving the Ministry of External Affairs and Ministry of Defence from both sides.

“The US has expressed interest in offering Stryker infantry combat vehicles. This is being discussed under co-development and co-production initiatives. Military teams from the two sides will work together on this,” Defence Secretary Giridhar Aramane said here.

Aramane and Foreign Secretary Vinay Kwatra briefed the media on the outcome of the 2+2 meeting between Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar with their US counterparts Lloyd Austin and Antony Blinken.

The 2+2 meeting was followed by a bilateral meeting between Singh and Austin which discussed a wide range of defence and strategic issues with a focus on enhancing defence-industrial cooperation and getting the defence industries from both sides together to cooperatively co-develop and co-produce defence systems.

Secretary Austin welcomed India’s decision to elevate to full membership of the Combined Maritime Forces, a Bahrain-based multilateral construct that seeks to keep the Indian Ocean free from pirates.

Asked about the progress made on General Electric’s F-414 engine deal with Hindustan Aeronautics Limited to manufacture jet engines in India, Aramane said the talks were on track and the progress would happen as originally scheduled. This was announced during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the USA in June.

The two sides would be collaborating on maritime technologies, particularly those in the “undersea domain”. In addition, more commitment from the US military industries would be sought to turn India into an MRO (maintenance, repair, overhaul) hub for the repair and overhaul of US aircraft, ships and UAVs that are on long-range deployment.

On the sale of 31 MQ-9B unmanned aerial vehicles through the Foreign Military Sales route, he said a Letter of Request was sent from the Indian side and the manufacturing company was in the process of seeking approval from the US government.

Singh symbolically handed over to Secretary Austin items recovered in Assam as part of the US Defence Prisoners of Wars Missing In Action Accounting Agency Mission. The items include parts of parachutes, uniforms and aeroplanes of the US forces from the World War II era as many aircraft were lost in that area while flying in the treacherous terrain and weather conditions in the North East.

The 2+2 summit was preceded by the first meeting of the India-US Defense Acceleration Ecosystem (INDUS-X) - a network of universities, startups, industry and think tanks that will seek to facilitate joint defence technology innovation, and co-production of advanced defence technology. This was also announced during the PM’s visit.

“The Indo-US defence cooperation has become a rock-solid support to the bilateral relations between the two countries,” Aramane noted.