In November 2023, India and the United States undertook a comprehensive overview of the strategic, defence and security ties — as India welcomed Secretary of State Anthony Blinken and Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin to India. This visit came close on the heels of the August 2023 MALABAR naval exercise that was undertaken by the Indian Navy, Royal Australian Navy, Japan Maritime Self Defense Force (JMSDF) and the US Navy “to showcase exceptional coordination, and interoperability between the four navies during advanced maritime operations”.

These military exercises came close on the heels of the announcement that witnessed the joint participation of India and the United States in aerial and maritime exercises and an enduring collaboration on specific critical technologies like artificial intelligence, advanced sensor development, quantum physics and undersea domain awareness. These developments followed the different ship repair agreements, first with Larsen & Toubro (L&T) and then with Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders (MDL) that enabled India to be a potential logistics hub for the United States. These exercises and initiatives also coincided with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s historic visit to the United States in June 2023 that laid out a comprehensive roadmap for the India-US bilateral partnership and was quickly followed by a successive visit by US President Joe Biden who visited New Delhi along the sidelines of the G20 Summit in September 2023.

These developments point to the broadening and deepening of military-to-military ties between India and the United States, with high-level summit engagements in the form of India-US 2+2 Dialogue and the Inter-sessional Dialogue — facilitated robust bilateral cooperation between India and United States — at a time when the United States has come to view India as a nation that can potentially circumvent the Chinese threat in South Asia.

Enduring India-US Defence Engagement

The 1991 Kicklighter Proposals suggested establishing contacts between the Indian and the US militaries after the end of the cold war. The 1995 Minute on Defense Cooperation paved the way for a dialogue at the defense secretary level along with the establishment of a technology group. However, India’s nuclear tests in the late 1990s paused military engagement with India being sanctioned by the United States. A thaw in the relationship came after several rounds of negotiations took place between then Indian external affairs minister Jaswant Singh and US deputy secretary of state Strobe Talbott. The two leaders discussed a wide array of issues ranging from nuclear non-proliferation, disarmament, global terrorism and the emerging international order as the two nations initiated a much-needed rapprochement at the time.

The fight against terrorism after the 9/11 incident enabled India and the United States to draw closer as the two states signed the New Framework for Defense Relationship that came to support the broader strategic partnership. The Next Steps in Strategic Partnership (NSSP) in 2004 followed by the India-US nuclear deal and the 123 agreement in 2005 facilitating trust building in this relationship. While the deal did not result in the direct construction of nuclear reactors in India, it provided India an opportunity to access uranium from other countries like Australia.

In the 2010s, after the failure of the Defense Technology and Trade Initiative (DTTI), India’s designation as a ‘major defense partner’ after the US Pivot to Asia and the growing palpable Chinese threat led to India’s emergence as a leading US strategic ally. Bipartisan support for betterment in Indo-US ties has led to creation of the Defense Industrial Roadmap between India and the United States along with the signing of key foundational agreements like the COMCASA and BECA that provided an element of robustness to the defence cooperation and partnership. In fact, the India US Defense Acceleration Ecosystem (INDUS-X) has emerged as a unique platform to support defence and technology startups to act as an “innovation bridge” creating an enabling environment for collaborative defence production recently — potentially improving military-to-military ties.

At the same time, top level exchange visits by the leadership — Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s June visit in 2023 and President Biden’s September 2023 visit for the G20 Leaders’ Summit — in addition to frequent visits by Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin and Secretary of State Anthony Blinken have further strengthened defence ties. The congressional consent for the implementation of General Electric’s historic deal with Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) for the construction of GE F-414 jet engines after the successful agreement to provide the much sought after MQ-9B sea and sky drones during the June 2023 visit — along with the recent US offer to provide and co-produce the Stryker armoured fighter vehicles’ air defence system for the Indian military —- has bolstered defense cooperation.

For instance, it was recently reported that the US Air Force Research Laboratory had collaborated with two start-ups, 114AI, an artificial intelligence firm that builds dual-use software for domain awareness and 3rd ITECH, India’s sole image sensor company working in collaboration with AFRL’s Space Vehicles Directorate. This landmark partnership was signed as part of the first non-domestic Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) between the US Space Force and any foreign entity. Since these agreements potentially deliberate on the use of dual-use technologies, it facilitates tangible knowledge creation and interaction among the military and intelligence communities of both countries. It also facilitates the rise of the military communities as new social constituencies within the robust India-US bilateral partnership.