US seeks pathfinder projects to boost defence ties with India

WASHINGTON: Ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's US visit, Pentagon has sought inputs from American industry to identify "pathfinder" projects that could be part of the next phase of exclusive co-development and co-production of high-tech defence items with India.

During Obama's historic trip to India this January, India and the US had announced six projects as part of its ambitious Defence Trade and Technology Initiative (DTII), which officials say have the potential to transform the nature of Indo-US defence relationship.

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"These pathfinders represent the modest beginning of a relationship that we expect to grow and deepen in the months and years ahead," Under Secretary of Defence Frank Kendall, who is the US-lead for DTTI, wrote in a recent letter to US industry last month, urging them to come up with proposals and ideas for ambitious and path-finding projects by the end of August.

In his letter, a copy of which has been obtained by PTI, Kindall assured the American industry that the Obama Administration and the Pentagon in particular would work to remove all bureaucratic hurdles in the US to fast track the implementation of those projects if it is taken up by India.

"I encourage industry partners to continue identifying opportunities that offer exclusive co-development and/or co-production in India, meet expressed Indian interest, including 'Make in India' and have potential for global market sales," he wrote.

Kendall, who has made several trips to India after being assigned with the task by Defence Secretary Ashton Carter, plans to review all these proposals in early September and submit to his Indian counterparts before Prime Minister Modi travels to the US in the last week of September.

Modi is coming to the US to primarily attend the 70th annual session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York and address a massive gathering of Indian Americans in the Silicon Valley on September 27. While officials remain tight-lipped about it, President Barack Obama and Modi are expected to meet in New York.
As per the joint Obama-Modi statement in January, the two leaders decided to increase the frequency of their meetings.

The hotline or the secure line of communication as agreed upon during the meeting had recently become operational.

Industry sources familiar with the DTTI initiative feel that there is not much enthusiasm among the Indians on the majority of the projects taken under this, except for the air craft carrier projects. A team of Indian officials were recently in US for the first meeting of the joint working group in this regard.

India, sources felt, would be interested in co- development and co-production projects that would catch the imagination of the people of the country and the projects currently being pursued except for aircraft carrier, has failed to meet that standard.

One of such project could be armed drones or unmanned aerial vehicles, which the US so far has been reluctant to share with any other country.

Even in his letter, Kendall acknowledged that the current projects identified under DTTI "represent the modest beginning" of a relationship that they expect to grow and deepen in the months and years ahead.

Noting that the DTTI aims to strengthen defence co-operation between India and the US by elevating it to the most senior levels, Kendall asserted that the two countries are "off to a good" start.

In January this year, India and the US had announced four projects for co-development and co-production. These include the next-generation Raven unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), "roll-on, roll-off" intelligence-gathering and reconnaissance modules for C-130J Super Hercules aircraft, mobile electric hybrid power sources and "uniform integrated protection ensemble increment-2 (chemical, biological warfare protection gear for soldiers)".