Speaking at the Institute of Defense Studies and Analyses in New Delhi on December 3, Puneet Talwar, U.S. assistant secretary of state for political-military affairs said that the U.S. and India are discussing more than a dozen production and development projects in defense. Talwar headed an inter-agency delegation, which includes officials from the U.S. state department, the Pentagon and the U.S. Pacific Command, to co-chair a political-military dialogue with officials from foreign and defense ministries.
Talwar said in his speech, “To us, our defense relationship with India is not transactional; it is an investment in our future together. We want to move beyond a buyer-seller relationship, towards one of co-development and co-production, where both our nations will benefit.” Since 2008, bilateral defense trade has grown from near zero to $10 billion, Talwar affirmed.
The New York Times reported last month that India was the world’s largest buyer of weapons, accounting for 14% of global arms imports, nearly three times as many as China, and that the U.S. had surpassed Russia, the traditional military hardware source, as India’s biggest arms supplier. India had short-listed five of 17 hi-tech items of military hardware offered by the U.S., the Press Trust of India reported earlier this week. These include naval guns, mine-scattering anti-tank vehicles, unmanned aerial surveillance system, Javelin missiles, and aircraft landing system for carriers, the report said. One of the ways the U.S. is moving the defense relationship forward was by modernizing the American defense exports licensing system. Less than 1% of licenses destined for India are denied, a figure that is on par or better than many of the U.S.’s closest partners, noted Talwar.
In the Indo-Pacific region, both the U.S. and India have key and complementary interests, Talwar said, adding that both sides “share a vision where all parties pursue resolution of their territorial and maritime disputes through peaceful means, in accordance with universally recognized principles of international law, including the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. Securing these sea lanes peacefully is crucial to ensuring that international commerce can continue to flow without disruption,” Talwar explained, almost mirroring India’s view on freedom of navigation.
