Defence Minister Rajnath Singh visited the Naval Surface Warfare Centre at Carderock on Saturday and witnessed the experiments being conducted and the facilities available at the centre.
In a post on X, he shared, “Visited Naval Surface Warfare Centre at Carderock and witnessed the pathbreaking experiments at the facility. India and the US look forward to working together and benefit from each other’s experiences.”
The Defence Minister, who is on a four-day official visit to US, interacted with the senior leadership of US defence companies here in an industry roundtable organised by the US-India Strategic Partnership Forum and outlined the various emerging co-development and co-production opportunities in the defence sector in India.
An official release said that the progressive reforms undertaken by the Centre have encouraged many foreign Original Equipment Manufacturers, including those from the US, to set up manufacturing units in India, develop Joint Ventures, and also to make India their alternate export base. The planned co-production of GE 414 aero-engines in India will be a significant milestone in India-US bilateral relations.
Rajnath Singh highlighted that ‘partnership’ and ‘joint efforts’ are the two keywords that differentiate India’s defence industry partnership with other nations.
The event was attended by representatives from US defence and technology companies such as Boeing, GE, General Atomics, General Dynamics Land Systems, L3 Harris, Lockheed Martin, Raytheon Technologies, Rolls Royce, and ThayerMahan.
In addition, a few Indian companies, such as ideaForge, Tata Sons and Tsecond, along with senior leaders from The Cohen Group attended the interaction with the Defence Minister. During the interaction, the business leaders briefly outlined their ongoing projects and future plans for India, and provided valuable feedback.
He emphasised that India welcomes US investment and technology collaboration, and is ready with a skilled human resource base, a robust pro-FDI and pro-business ecosystem, and large domestic market.
During his meeting with US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin, the two leaders expressed happiness on the conclusion of the Security of Supplies Arrangement (SOSA), which encourages the defence industrial ecosystems of both countries to work together, and enhances the supply chain resilience.
Rajnath Singh held a bilateral meeting with Lloyd Austin in Pentagon, Washington, DC, on Friday. They held wide-ranging discussions on bilateral defence cooperation, industrial collaboration, regional security and other international issues.
Rajnath Singh is on an official visit to the US from August 23 to 26.