India and America signed defence partnership
Recently, the Prime Minister of India was on a state visit to the US. During this period the following have been signed under the Strategic Defense Partnership between India and the US :
- India – US Defense Acceleration Ecosystem (INDUS-X); And
- MoU between General Electric (GE) and Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) for the manufacture of GE F-414 jet engine in India.
- INDUS-X has been launched by the US Department of Defense (DoD) and the Indian Ministry of Defense (MoD). INDUS-X will facilitate joint defense technology innovation between the industries of both the countries. Also, it will facilitate co-production of advanced defense technology.
- In addition, an India-US Joint Innovation Fund is also being set up for funding defense start-ups. It is a part of the US Initiative on Critical and Emerging Technologies (iCET). Under this, America will be able to eliminate barriers controlling the export of defense technology to India.
- Under the MoU, General Electric will provide key technologies of GE F-414 jet engine to HAL. This will enable it to be used in HAL’s Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Tejas MK2.
Source – Indian Express
