India and the US inked on Friday an expansive new defence framework to strengthen their strategic partnership over the next 10 years. This comes amid indications that a trade deal is also in the works to douse the raging tariff tensions between the two countries. The ‘Framework for the US-India Major Defence Partnership’, inked during a meeting between defence minister Rajnath Singh and his American counterpart Pete Hegseth on the sidelines of the Asean meet in Kuala Lumpur, supplants and builds on the one inked in June 2015.
The 2025 framework aims to further transform the defence partnership by providing “a unified vision and policy direction” to deepen cooperation in all domains, including defence-industrial collaboration, military interoperability across land, air, sea, space and cyberspace, as well as maritime domain awareness, over the next 10 years.
Officials told TOI that the intent is to “recalibrate” the partnership in line with “a renewed consensus to effectively address the emerging security challenges and priorities in the region, including imperatives for deterrence, stability and safeguarding a free and open Indo-Pacific”. Defence and military cooperation over the last two decades has been the cornerstone of the overall bilateral ties, which have taken a major hit since President Donald Trump imposed 50% tariffs on New Delhi earlier this year and due to his continuing insistence that he had brokered the ceasefire between India and Pakistan by leveraging trade deals.
Defence to remain major pillar of relations with US: Rajnath
The upward trajectory of the defence ties, however, was evident at the Singh-Hegseth meeting. “The framework will usher in a new era in our already strong defence partnership. It is a signal of our growing strategic convergence and will herald a new decade of partnership. Defence will remain the major pillar of our bilateral relations,” Singh said.Hegseth, in turn, said, “The framework advances our defence partnership, a cornerstone for regional stability and deterrence. We’re enhancing our coordination, information-sharing and tech cooperation. Our defence ties have never been stronger.”India, of course, remains concerned about the signalling by the Trump administration that its Indo-Pacific strategy to counter an aggressive China is no longer a top priority, even as de-escalation in the US-China trade war took place on Thursday.Both Singh and Hegseth, however, reiterated their commitment to a free, open and rules-bound Indo-Pacific at the meeting. While Singh said the bilateral partnership was “critical” to ensure the region remains free from coercion, Hegseth said the US was committed to working closely with India to ensure the same.At a separate meeting with Chinese defence minister Admiral Dong Jun, Hegseth stressed the importance of “maintaining a balance of power in the Indo-Pacific” while voicing concerns about China’s activities in the South China Sea, around Taiwan, and vis-a-vis allies and partners of the US in the Indo-Pacific. “US does not seek conflict. It will continue to stoutly defend its interests and ensure it has the capabilities in the region to do so,” he posted on X.The US, of course, is eyeing more lucrative Indian defence deals, having bagged contracts worth over $25 billion since just 2007. India, for instance, is slated to receive 31 armed MQ-9B Predator high-altitude long-endurance drones, ordered from the US for $3.8 billion in Oct last year, in the 2029-30 timeframe. India is also set to order another 113 GE-F404 turbofan jet engines from US firm General Electric for $1 billion to power the indigenous Tejas Mark-1A fighters. The delivery of 99 such engines, ordered in Aug 2021 by Hindustan Aeronautics for $716 million, recently began after a two-year delay.
