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Defence Minister Rajnath Singh to visit U.S. as mega defence deals near conclusion
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh to visit U.S. to strengthen strategic partnership, discuss defence collaborations and procurements
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh. File
| Photo Credit: ANI
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh is set to visit the U.S. from August 23 to 26. This comes as several highend defence deals between India and U.S, are in the final stages of conclusion.
The visit comes as several high end defence deals are lined up as also friction over issues like Prime Minister’s visit to Russia and the Pannun episode. In addition, a key concern for the Defence Ministry at the moment is delay in deliveries from General Electric (GE) of the F404 engines for the indigenous Light Combat Aircraft (LCA)-Mk1A which has held up deliveries of the jets by Hindustaan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) to the Indian Air Force (IAF).
“The visit comes in the backdrop of the growing momentum in India-U.S. relations and defence engagements at multiple levels. The visit is expected to further deepen and broaden the India-U.S. comprehensive global strategic partnership,” the Defence Ministry said in a statement.
During the visit, Mr. Singh will hold a bilateral meeting with his U.S. counterpart Secretary Lloyd Austin and will also meet the U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan,
Mr. Singh will also chair a high-level roundtable meeting with the U.S. defence industry on the ongoing and future defence collaborations. He will also interact with the Indian community during the visit, the statement added.
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Deals for armed drones, jet engines
Two multi-billion deals for 31 MQ-9B High Altitude Long Endurance (HALE) Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) from General Atomics as well as a deal to license manufacture the GE F414 engine in India for the LCA-Mk2 are in the final stages before conclusion.
As reported by The Hindu earlier, end-July the Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) chaired by Mr. Singh had approved amendments to the MQ-9B deal related to indigenous content and related aspects. The deal for 31 MQ-9B UAVs, 15 Sea Guardians for the Indian Navy and 16 Sky Guardians – eight each for the Indian Army and Air Force, is estimated to cost $3.99 billion.
The jet engine deal between GE and HAL too is in advanced stages. Once the final modalities are completed, both the deals have to be approved by the Cabinet Committee on Security before they can be concluded.
However, in a related development, with continuing delay in F4040 engine deliveries HAL is now preparing a back up to install used engines on the Mk1A jet and begin deliveries to the IAF. This issue is also expected to figure in Mr. Singh’s conversations during the visit.
The Stryker infantry combat vehicle is being put to trails in India by the Army and a few hundred vehicles in different variants are expected to be contracted.
In addition to these mega deals, several other industry led initiatives are also in the pipeline the progress of which would be reviewed at the highest level during the visit.
India is set to host this year’s Malabar naval exercise comprising of India, Australia, Japan and the U.S. in October this year at Visakhapatnam and the modalities are being finalized.
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