Rajnath Singh, Tulsi Gabbard seek to deepen India-US ties in niche defence areas

India and the US on Monday explored avenues for deepening collaboration in areas including cutting-edge defence innovation and niche technologies, with both sides expressing their shared commitment to advancing mutual strategic interests during talks between defence minister Rajnath Singh and US Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard.

"They addressed key areas such as enhancing interoperability and fostering greater integration of defence industrial supply chains to bolster resilience and innovation," the defence ministry said.

The talks came at a time when the two sides are looking at expanding defence cooperation with focus on multiple domains in land, air, maritime and space, interoperability, logistics and information sharing, and joint military exercises.

"Happy to have met the US Director of National Intelligence Ms @TulsiGabbard in New Delhi. We discussed a wide range of issues which include defence and information sharing, aiming to further deepen the India-US partnership," Singh said in a post on X.

On Sunday, she participated in a meeting of top security officials from around the world. Here to attend the Raisina Dialogue, Gabbard is the first senior official of the Trump administration to travel to India.

Drawing from the joint statement issued after the recent meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Donald Trump, the discussions reaffirmed the growing strength of the India-US bilateral defence partnership, the ministry said in a statement.

"Both leaders emphasised that strategic security remains a vital pillar of the comprehensive global strategic cooperation between the two nations. They reviewed the significant strides made in the areas of military exercises, strategic cooperation, integration of defence industrial supply chains and information-sharing cooperation, especially in the maritime domain," the statement added.

In February, Singh and his US counterpart Pete Hegseth reviewed the ongoing defence cooperation and explored ways and means to expand and deepen the India-US bilateral defence relationship.

Both sides have made progress under the US-India Defence Industrial Cooperation Roadmap, including ongoing collaboration to advance priority co-production arrangements for jet engines, munitions, and ground mobility systems.

The roadmap, adopted in 2023, seeks to fast-track technology cooperation and co-production in critical areas including air combat and land mobility systems, intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance, munitions, and the undersea domain.

Last October, India signed a deal worth $3.5 billion with the US to acquire 31 MQ-9B drones to boost its defence preparedness, primarily with an eye on China. The agreement came after a deliberative process in New Delhi that spanned eight years, involved negotiations with two US administrations, incorporated the lease of two drones in this period, and required, at the American end, a challenging process of congressional approval.

Fifteen drones are meant for the navy, and eight each for the army and the air force.

Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) is also negotiating a deal with US firm GE Aerospace for the joint production of F414 engines in India. The two firms signed a memorandum of understanding in Washington in June 2023 to produce 99 F414 engines for India's future LCA (light combat aircraft) Mk-2 programme.

The joint production of the engines will help the country overcome a striking technology gap, lay the foundation for indigenous development of bigger jet engines and possibly open doors to exports.

Singh's meeting with Gabbard came a month after Trump revealed that America is paving the way to provide India the F-35 stealth fighters and the two countries announced plans for the co-production of US-made Javelin anti-tank guided missiles and Stryker infantry combat vehicles in India during Modi's visit to the US.

To be sure, on March 8, the Chief of the Air Staff, Air Chief Marshal AP Singh, said India had not looked at the F-35 option, and no offer had been made by the US, pointing out that buying a fighter plane was not the same as "buying a washing machine or refrigerator."