JUNE 21, 2023 – The United States and India have established a wide-ranging, strategic partnership in which defense and security cooperation have evolved to become a vital pillar of engagement. The vision for bilateral defense cooperation was established in the September 2013 Joint U.S. – India Declaration on Defense Cooperation and the 2015 Framework for the U.S. – India Defense Relationship, wherein the United States and India signaled their continued commitment to defense cooperation to promote regional and global security and stability.
Building on these foundational documents and recognizing the strong record of investments by U.S. businesses in India’s defense ecosystem for decades, the two countries commit to accelerating and deepening the integration between our respective defense industrial sectors. As such, the United States and India will work together to identify immediate and high-impact opportunities to cooperatively produce the systems required to meet India’s military modernization objectives. Such efforts can lead to greater opportunities for cooperative development of new technologies and cooperative production of existing systems, in turn strengthening supply chains and bolstering India’s domestic defense industry. This work will also contribute to the U.S.-India initiative on Critical and Emerging Technology (iCET) announced in January 2023 to elevate and expand strategic technology partnership and defense industrial cooperation.
In advancing defense industrial cooperation, India and the United States endorse the following general principles of cooperation:
- The United States and India will each evaluate changes to their respective policies and authorities required to support enhanced defense cooperation.
- India and the United States will work with their domestic defense industries to encourage greater businessto-business ties and industrial partnerships. The development and growth of these industrial ties will lead to dividends for innovation and people-to-people ties.
- The United States and India will work to facilitate dialogue between government and industry to address areas of mutual concern, that may inhibit collaboration, such as licensing, export controls, security of supply, barriers to defense trade, foreign direct investment, and technology transfer and security. Both sides are committed to identifying and discussing any regulatory barriers in the defense domain.
- India and the United States will identify concepts for mission-driven cooperative projects to solve military problems of mutual interest, and in alignment with national strategic vision and requirements, involving advanced technologies. Bilateral security concerns will serve as the basis for prioritizing engineering work in prototyping and experimentation, and for forecasting needs for applied and basic research among the nations’ defense scientific communities, governments, industries, and centers of innovation. The projects will be structured with intent to facilitate co-development, and eventually co-production opportunities.
- With an aim to make India a logistic hub for the United States and other partners in the Indo-Pacific region, the United States intends to support India in the creation of logistic, repair, and maintenance infrastructure for aircraft and ships.
- The United States intends to support the integration of Indian defense industry into global supply chains of U.S. defense and aerospace companies.
- India will endeavor to implement the Industrial Security Annex to facilitate deeper bilateral industrial cooperation on classified cooperation projects.
- Both sides will endeavor to conclude the Security of Supplies Arrangement (SOSA) and Reciprocal Defense Procurement (RDP) agreement at the earliest opportunity.
Projects under this framework will focus on the following areas, which the two sides have identified as priority areas with most cooperation potential:
- Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR)
- Undersea Domain Awareness
- Air Combat and Support, including Aero Engines
- Munitions systems
- Mobility
Both sides will present concepts for cooperative projects through government channels, as well as by facilitating business-to-business connections that will advance private innovation and opportunities for cooperation (including through the launch of a new “Innovation Bridge” to connect U.S. and Indian defense startups).
The United States and India have established mechanisms for developing and sustaining dialogue between Indian and U.S. industry on defense industrial cooperation.
Co-developed or co-produced products will be eligible for sale, including exports. Any such sales or transfers would be evaluated by India and United States, subject to the national export control laws and regulations of each country and taking into consideration the defense articles and/or services in question, as well as their intended end use, the recipient/customers, and other factors.
The United States and India will identify lead points of contact who will be responsible for coordinating engagements and track implementation of cooperative projects agreed to under the Defense Industrial Roadmap. These leads will be responsible for reviewing potential opportunities and prioritizing actions, with the goal of presenting at least one project before Ministerial-level meetings.
This roadmap is intended to serve as a short-term mechanism for driving cooperation on a handful of discrete projects until 2024, when the two countries envision updating the 2015 Framework for the U.S. – India Defense Relationship. This roadmap is not intended to give rise to rights or obligations under domestic or international law.