US, India tighten defence ties

It is perhaps emblematic of the current strategic scenario that two days after using the Shangri-La Dialogue to issue another call for a sit-down with his Chinese counterpart, General Li Shangfu, United States Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin should have been inspecting an honour guard in New Delhi, with India’s defence minister in attendance. Mr Austin subsequently

spoke about an “ambitious new road map” for defence ties

between the world’s No. 1 military power and India, the world’s biggest arms importer, which will fast-track co-development and co-production of weapons, among other things.

More will be known when

Prime Minister Narendra Modi travels to the US

for a June 22 summit with President Joe Biden, but credible reports indicate that significant announcements, including a potential sale and technology transfer to India of GE F414 aircraft engines, are on the anvil. Long dependent on the Soviet Union and its successor state Russia for weapons supplies, New Delhi has steadily advanced purchases of Western war equipment, importing some US$20 billion (S$26.8 billion) worth from the US alone since 2008. Tellingly, it grounded its fleet of Soviet-era MiG-21 fighters in May for a safety check.