Defence Minister Rajnath Singh held a bilateral meeting with the US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin in the Pentagon, Washington DC last night. They held wide-ranging discussions on bilateral defence cooperation, industrial collaboration, regional security and other international issues. During the meeting, Mr. Singh highlighted the various co-development and co-production opportunities in India in the areas identified in the India-US Defence Industrial Cooperation Roadmap, which was adopted last year. Both the Ministers expressed happiness after the Security of Supplies Arrangement (SOSA) between India and the US. The SOSA signed on Thursday in Washington DC encourages the defence industrial ecosystems of both countries to work together, and enhances the supply chain resilience.
In a statement, the Defence Ministry said, the two sides also welcomed the signing of the Memorandum of Agreement between India and the US regarding the Deployment of Liaison Officers. India shall be accordingly deploying the first Liaison Officer to the Headquarters Special Operations Command in Florida, US. Both the Ministers appreciated the progress made in operationalising the Indo-Pacific Maritime Domain Awareness, a Quad initiative and lauded the ongoing efforts by India to enhance the Maritime Domain Awareness for the partners in the Indian Ocean Region. They also welcomed the ongoing Indian participation in the Combined Maritime Forces (CMF) and noted that India will deploy Indian Navy personnel in CMF’s Combined Task Force 150 headquarters in 2025.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin commended the efforts of the India-US Defence Acceleration Ecosystem (INDUS-X) for establishing the Defence Innovation bridge between the two countries. They appreciated INDUS-X establishing robust networks across start-ups, industry, academia, and governments, accelerating the adoption of cutting-edge technologies and enhancing the war-fighting capabilities of both sides.
