{"id":15797,"date":"2023-06-06T10:43:51","date_gmt":"2023-06-06T07:43:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ir-ia.com\/news\/?p=15797"},"modified":"2023-06-06T10:46:41","modified_gmt":"2023-06-06T07:46:41","slug":"us-defense-chief-austin-visits-india-to-boost-military-ties","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ir-ia.com\/news\/us-defense-chief-austin-visits-india-to-boost-military-ties\/","title":{"rendered":"US defense chief Austin visits India to boost military ties"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>The United States Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin traveled to India for a two-day visit on June 4-5, 2023. Austin met with his Indian counterpart Rajnath Singh and India\u2019s National Security Advisor Ajit Doval. The two sides exchanged perspectives on booting military cooperation and deepening partnership in critical domains.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Austin was welcomed by the Indian Minister of Defense Rajnath Singh as the two defense chiefs had a bilateral meeting shortly after. The meeting focused on the development of a new \u2018Roadmap for U.S.-India Defense Industrial Cooperation\u2019, which will fast-track <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ir-ia.com\/news\/tag\/technology\/\"><span style=\"color:#ac0707\" class=\"has-inline-color\">technology<\/span><\/a> cooperation and co-production in areas such as air combat and land mobility systems; intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance; munitions; and the undersea domain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>According to a statement released by the U.S. Department of Defense, the initiative aims to change the paradigm for cooperation between U.S. and Indian <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ir-ia.com\/news\/tag\/defense\/\"><span style=\"color:#ac0707\" class=\"has-inline-color\">defense sectors<\/span><\/a>, including a set of specific proposals that could provide India access to cutting-edge technologies and support India\u2019s defense modernization plans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m returning to India to meet with key leaders for discussions about strengthening our Major Defense Partnership. Together, we\u2019re advancing a shared vision for a free and open <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ir-ia.com\/news\/tag\/indo-pacific\/\"><span style=\"color:#ac0707\" class=\"has-inline-color\">Indo-Pacific<\/span><\/a>,\u201d Austin tweeted after he arrived in New Delhi on June 4.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">I\u2019m returning to India to meet with key leaders for discussions about strengthening our Major Defense Partnership.<br><br>Together, we\u2019re advancing a shared vision for a free and open Indo-Pacific. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/P73Oy2npDx\">pic.twitter.com\/P73Oy2npDx<\/a><\/p>\u2014 Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III (@SecDef) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/SecDef\/status\/1665319064225345536?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 4, 2023<\/a><\/blockquote> <script async=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Austin and Singh also discussed the possibilities to strengthen India\u2019s domestic defense industry and pledged to review regulatory hurdles impeding closer industry-to-industry cooperation and to initiate negotiations on a Security of Supply Arrangement and a Reciprocal Defense Procurement agreement, which will promote long-term supply chain stability.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Pentagon Chief also met with India\u2019s National Security Adviser Ajit Doval. His meeting with Doval focused on boosting U.S.-India cooperation in space, cyberspace, and artificial intelligence (AI).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Austin\u2019s trip to New Delhi comes only a few days before Indian Prime Minister Narendra Singh Modi\u2019s expected trip to Washington. It is being speculated that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ir-ia.com\/news\/tag\/india\/\"><span style=\"color:#ac0707\" class=\"has-inline-color\">India<\/span><\/a> would conclude its estimated $2 billion deal to buy 18 armed high-altitude long-endurance unmanned aerial vehicles from General Atomics Aeronautical Systems during Modi\u2019s trip to the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ir-ia.com\/news\/tag\/u-s\/\"><span style=\"color:#ac0707\" class=\"has-inline-color\">United States<\/span><\/a>. India plans to deploy combat drones in border areas close to Pakistan and China.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"alignleft size-large\"><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.ir-ia.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/US-India-defense-delegation-meeting.jpg?ssl=1\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1016\" height=\"478\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.ir-ia.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/US-India-defense-delegation-meeting.jpg?resize=1016%2C478&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-15794\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.ir-ia.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/US-India-defense-delegation-meeting.jpg?resize=1024%2C482&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.ir-ia.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/US-India-defense-delegation-meeting.jpg?resize=300%2C141&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.ir-ia.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/US-India-defense-delegation-meeting.jpg?resize=768%2C362&amp;ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.ir-ia.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/US-India-defense-delegation-meeting.jpg?w=1400&amp;ssl=1 1400w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1016px) 100vw, 1016px\" \/><\/a><figcaption><em><sup>U.S. defense delegation led by Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin meeting with Indian delegation led by Defense Minister Rajnath Singh in New Delhi, India. (Image Credit: Twitter)<\/sup><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>Austin arrived in India after participating in the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ir-ia.com\/news\/top-defense-and-security-officials-convene-in-singapore-for-shangri-la-dialogue\/\" data-type=\"post\" data-id=\"15770\"><span style=\"color:#ac0707\" class=\"has-inline-color\">Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore<\/span><\/a>, an annual gathering of high-level military officials, defense ministers, diplomats, security analysts, and arms makers from around the world. In Singapore, Austin lobbied for Washington\u2019s vision of a \u201cfree and open Indo-Pacific region\u201d to counter China\u2019s increasing influence in the region. Austin\u2019s visit to India is also a part of the U.S.\u2019s attempt to boost India\u2019s capabilities to rival China\u2019s increasing military influence in the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>India is on a tight diplomatic rope, particularly after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, as the Modi administration struggles to balance its relations between Washington and Moscow. India is attempting to reduce its dependency on Russian-made weapons in favor of U.S. and French-made weapons while increasing the purchase of Russian oil products due to their decreased prices.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The United States Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin traveled to India for a two-day visit on June 4-5, 2023. Austin met with his Indian counterpart Rajnath Singh and India\u2019s National Security Advisor Ajit Doval. The two sides exchanged perspectives on booting military cooperation and deepening partnership in critical domains.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15793,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1,125],"tags":[490,137,380,45,331,6,70,377,226,5,533,402,235,7],"class_list":["post-15797","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-united-states","tag-ai","tag-asia","tag-asia-pacific","tag-china","tag-cyber","tag-defense","tag-india","tag-indo-pacific","tag-intelligence","tag-military","tag-south-asia","tag-space-tech","tag-technology","tag-u-s"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.ir-ia.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/US-Defense-Secretary-Austin-with-Indian-Def-Minister-Singh.jpg?fit=690%2C370&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7jJWb-46N","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ir-ia.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15797","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ir-ia.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ir-ia.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ir-ia.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ir-ia.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15797"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.ir-ia.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15797\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15803,"href":"https:\/\/www.ir-ia.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15797\/revisions\/15803"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ir-ia.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15793"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ir-ia.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15797"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ir-ia.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15797"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ir-ia.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15797"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}