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Time of India
26-05-2025
- Business
- Time of India
Foreign secretary Vikram Misri to visit US on May 27, greater military cooperation on agenda
Foreign secretary Vikram Misri NEW DELHI: Foreign secretary Vikram Misri will be visiting the United States from May 27-29 to meet with senior officials of the Trump administration. The visit is a follow up to Prime Minister's visit to the United States in February 2025, when both sides had launched the India-US COMPACT (Catalysing Opportunities for Military Partnership, Accelerated Commerce & Technology) for the 21st Century, the ministry of external affairs said. The India-US COMPACT is a strategic initiative launched in February 2025 by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Donald Trump. This comprehensive framework aims to deepen bilateral cooperation across defense, trade, and advanced technologies, marking a significant advancement in the India-US Comprehensive Global Strategic Partnership. At the heart of the COMPACT is a 10-year roadmap to elevate the US-India Major Defense Partnership, enabling co-production and joint development of critical military platforms such as Javelin missiles, Stryker combat vehicles, and P-8I surveillance aircraft. A new Autonomous Systems Industry Alliance has also been established to advance collaboration in frontier defense technologies, including artificial intelligence, autonomous systems, and maritime security solutions. Economically, the initiative targets a doubling of bilateral trade to $500 billion by 2030 through a comprehensive agreement that emphasises fair trade practices, mutual growth, and national security safeguards. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like 3BHK Transformation Possible for ₹4.5 Lakh? HomeLane Get Quote Undo This push is supported by 'Mission-500,' a dedicated drive to unlock trade potential in strategic sectors. On the innovation front, the COMPACT launches the TRUST Initiative, fostering joint progress in advanced technologies like semiconductors, quantum computing, clean energy, biotechnology, and space exploration. It also introduces the INDUS Innovation platform to enhance academic and industrial cooperation in future technologies. Beyond commerce and security, the pact strengthens collaboration in energy, particularly nuclear power, clean hydrogen, and LNG, to support climate goals and ensure long-term energy security. Additionally, it reinforces shared strategic priorities in the Indo-Pacific region and boosts connectivity initiatives such as the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor. Overall, the COMPACT represents a bold vision for a more integrated and resilient India-US partnership, built on trust, technological leadership, and shared geopolitical interests.
Axios
12-03-2025
- Business
- Axios
Why Trump's F-35 offer signals closer U.S.-India ties
What can a potential arms sale portend? Well, in the case of the F-35, one of the most coveted, costly and complex weapons on Earth, it's more intimate ties between the U.S. and India. Why it matters: For all the chaos President Trump is injecting into U.S. foreign policy — trade wars with allies, aligning with Russia on a UN vote — a focus on the Indo-Pacific remains steady. In that calculus, New Delhi is priceless. Driving the news: A meeting this month of President Trump and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi produced a handful of defense commitments, including "paving the way" to share Lockheed Martin's stealth fighter. That remark alone caught people by surprise. It's no simple, speedy task. Also on the schedule (and worth closely monitoring) are coproduction of Javelin anti-tank missiles and Stryker combat vehicles; the launch of the Autonomous Systems Industry Alliance; and closer-knit intelligence sharing. What they're saying: The U.S.-India relationship has been in "hyperdrive," according to Lindsey Ford, former deputy assistant secretary of defense for South and Southeast Asia. A "serious dustup" between India and China along the Line of Actual Control years ago propelled the former "to think much more seriously about the nature of its security partnership with the United States," she told Axios. It also coincided with an American reassessment of Chinese ambitions. "The U.S. and India working together — and, in particular, through the Quad [grouping of the U.S., India, Australia and Japan] — is something that Beijing is watching very closely." Yes, but: India has long relied on Russian arms. That includes the S-400 air-defense system, which earned Turkey the boot from the F-35 coalition. There's also the BrahMos cruise missile joint venture and T-90 tank production, among other examples. Another complicating factor is India's own fifth-generation push, the Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft. A full-scale AMCA model was displayed at Aero India 2025, Defense News reported. Zoom out: Personal relationships can make a difference at a time when allegiances are changing and limits — off Alaska's coast, across Europe, in the South China Sea — are tested. Former Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and former national security adviser Jake Sullivan worked the Indo-Pacific circuit. "The leader-level friendship is everything when it comes to driving the U.S.-India partnership forward," said Ford. "With two mammoth bureaucracies, it is very, very easy for both systems to fall back to a sort of stasis." The latest: Shield AI co-founder Brandon Tseng huddled with Indian officials last week. The company began exploring the country and its massive markets in 2021; late last year, it announced a $90 million deal with JSW Group. 'There's a sentiment in India that they want to increase their levels of defense spending. It's critically important for the country. They're in a very dangerous neighborhood," Tseng said in an interview. "This was my conversation with the commerce minister: There's a lean toward working with the United States." Other defense firms are playing ball, too. Anduril Industries is collaborating on software and autonomous tech with Mahindra Group. AM General is working with Kalyani Strategic Systems on artillery. The bottom line: Even if the F-35 deal falls through, Trump's offer "shows a new approach, especially in the signal it sends about the president's willingness to share cutting-edge technology with India," Capstone analysts Alexander Slater and Michael Wang said in commentary shared with Axios.
Arab News
23-02-2025
- Business
- Arab News
Trump, Modi and the new partnership
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Washington on Feb. 13-14 took place against the background of Donald Trump's threat to impose crippling duties on imports from India, in response to the $45.7 billion trade deficit in India's favor. To improve the atmosphere, before Modi's arrival, India announced steep reductions on selected items imported from the US. However, the atmosphere was seriously soured by US flights to India carrying Indian illegal immigrants in shackles. At the outset, Modi sought to revive the bonhomie and warm personal chemistry he had enjoyed with the president in his first term through a play on words, recalling Trump's slogan, MAGA, Modi said his own slogan was 'MIGA,' Make India Great Again, and pointed out that the merging of the two slogans led to 'MEGA — a mega opportunity for prosperity.' This play on words appears to have shaped the content of the joint statement, which indicates that relations between the two countries would be based on a series of acronyms that are unbeatable for their verbosity. The full range of bilateral cooperation will now take place within the rubric of the 'US-India COMPACT for the 21st century,' the acronym standing for 'Catalyzing Opportunities for Military Partnership, Accelerated Commerce and Technology.' Defense industrial cooperation will be shaped by 'ASIA,' the Autonomous Systems Industry Alliance, while technology cooperation will occur through 'TRUST,' which stands for Transforming the Relationship Utilizing Strategic Technology. Partnership in technological innovation, unsurprisingly, needs another acronym, 'INDUS Innovation,' which itself is modelled on the earlier 'INDUS-X' platform. Finally, trade will be promoted by the 'BTA,' the Bilateral Trade Agreement that the two countries will finalize later this year. The joint statement also sets out in minute detail every piece of military equipment the US has supplied India and what it hopes India will buy in the near future. It promises that Indo-US trade will, under Mission 500, go from $130 billion today to $500 billion by 2030. Energy cooperation will flourish so that the US emerges as 'a leading supplier of crude oil and petroleum products and LNG (liquefied natural gas),' even as India obtains US-designed nuclear reactors. In the defense area, the militaries of the two countries will march together 'in multilateral settings to advance global peace and security,' with a particularly 'close partnership' in the Indo-Pacific and in the Middle East. In respect of the latter, India and the US will convene partners from the India-Middle East-Europe-Economic Corridor and I2U2 (India, Israel, the UAE and the US) 'to announce new initiatives in 2025.' India's engagements with the US may be expected to be transactional, with the verbosity of the joint statement remaining delusional — full of sound and fury, signifying very little. Talmiz Ahmad Modi's visit has thrown up several positives for India. The US interest in expanding military sales to India has ensured that not only will India have access to state-of-the-art military equipment and technologies, it will also gain expertise through domestic production in selected areas. Similarly, the US could emerge as a major partner for India in the diverse areas of technology as well as the exploration, development and use of critical minerals. India will also benefit by obtaining technology for light-water nuclear reactors that now dominate the global nuclear scene. However, trade is likely to remain a contentious issue between the two countries; the target of $500 billion for bilateral trade by 2030 can be achieved only if India, regardless of price, commits itself to buying American military equipment, energy resources and technology, and denies itself access to other competitive sources. This will impose an unacceptable burden on India and will need a firm pushback. The visit also revealed some important areas of concern for India. The language of the joint statement is generally one-sided and appears to place India as a junior partner in support of US strategic interests. This is reflected in references to US interests in the Indo-Pacific and even the Indian Ocean that are obviously directed at confronting China in these spaces. Given that India shares 3,200 km of undefined border with China, it hardly suits Indian interests to be part of a US-led military coalition directed at China. Similarly, the joint statement refers to the Middle East in language that takes no account of India's commitment to strategic autonomy. Specifically, while India has close ties with Israel, it continues to uphold the need for a 'two-state solution' to address Palestinian aspirations. Now, given the deep divide in Arab and Israeli positions after Gaza, India can hardly associate itself with the US in convening a meeting of the IMEEC partner states this year. Above all, India is well aware of the frequent changes in US policy approaches, and the influence of extraneous elements on its policymaking. To this we must add Trump's unpredictability, his propensity for grandstanding, and his lack of interest in pursuing a longer-term vision — all of which make the US an extremely unreliable partner. This is most recently in evidence with regard to Ukraine and the exclusion of European countries from discussions relating to their own security. Thus, India's engagements with the US may be expected to be transactional, with the verbosity of the joint statement remaining delusional — full of sound and fury, signifying very little.
