American military relationship

During his recently concluded three-day visit to the US, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi made a "huge" deal to serve the process of strengthening New Delhi's military strength.

US helps India localize fighter jets

According to The Times of India , during the above trip, General Electric Corporation (GE, USA) and Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL, a state-owned enterprise of India) agreed to cooperate in producing F414 engines. This is the engine used in India's Tejas fighter aircraft.

With a maximum speed of up to 1,980 km/h, a range of 1,850 km, a combat radius of 500 km and the ability to carry a variety of weapons for multi-mission combat, Tejas is gradually being shaped by New Delhi into a group of main fighter aircraft for the Indian army after many years of dependence on fighter aircraft supplied by the Soviet Union and then Russia. A number of other countries are also considering ordering Tejas from India.

Indian Navy P8 Poseidon aircraft

However, India still depends on GE for the F414 engine. Therefore, the joint production of this engine allows New Delhi to speed up the localization process of the Tejas fighter jet. Thereby, New Delhi not only reduces its dependence on Moscow but can also expand the market for selling fighter jets.

Also during the visit, the two sides reached an agreement for Washington to sell 31 MQ-9B unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) worth a total of 3 billion USD to New Delhi. These UAVs will be completed in India and include 15 SeaGuardian versions for the navy and 16 SkyGuardian versions (divided equally between the army and air force).

This is a long-range reconnaissance UAV, integrating many advanced radar and reconnaissance systems and can carry a number of weapons to attack warships, ground targets, etc. Therefore, equipping MQ-9B allows India to monitor a wide area at sea and on land. Recently, the border area between India and China has always been tense, so SkyGuardian is assessed to help New Delhi closely monitor Beijing's military movements in the border area. In addition, SeaGuardian can help India monitor the Indian Ocean region more closely as China has recently frequently deployed warships to this sea area.

Tejas fighter jet

Indian Ministry of Defense

US - India increasingly close

After a long period of tension between the US and India due to New Delhi's development of nuclear weapons, the relationship between the two sides has gradually warmed in the past two decades in the face of the rise of China as well as other challenges in the region. In particular, in recent years, the US has increasingly provided many types of weapons to India. According to CNBC, since 2014, New Delhi has become a major buyer of weapons from Washington.

Among them are a series of large weapons contracts such as C17 military transport aircraft, P8 Poseidon anti-submarine aircraft, MH-60R naval combat helicopters, Apache combat helicopters, MK 45 naval artillery, Harpoon anti-ship missiles, torpedoes, anti-tank missiles, air defense systems, etc.

Receiving Prime Minister Modi, President Biden hails new era in US-India relations

In addition to arms sales contracts, during Prime Minister Modi's recent visit, Washington and New Delhi also reached an agreement allowing US warships to access Indian bases to use logistics services. Thus, members of the "quad" group (US - Japan - Australia - India) all have similar agreements through bilateral mechanisms in the form of "Acquisition and Mutual Services" (ACSA) or "Logistics Support and Assistance" (LEMOA). These two types of agreements are similar, allowing the militaries of the countries participating in the agreement to access each other's military bases, share logistics, transportation (including air transportation), fuel, communication systems, etc. Therefore, when members all have such bilateral agreements with each other, the "quad" can tighten cooperation and coordinate military activities.

Responding to Thanh Nien, Dr. Satoru Nagao (Hudson Institute, USA) commented: "This US-India defense cooperation is an important step forward for the relationship between the two countries, especially for New Delhi's defense strategy. By reducing its dependence on Russia, India can strengthen cooperation with the remaining members of the "quad" group."

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