Jets, Chips, and Space Mission: What deals have Modi and Biden signed?

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ongoing state visit to the United States has already resulted in some mega deals being signed and a few more pacts in the offing. But which big deals have been announced? Which ones are expected? Let’s take a closer look: Jet engine GE Aerospace on Thursday announced a landmark agreement with state-owned Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) to manufacture jet engines for the Indian Air Force in the backdrop of Modi’s visit. According to India Today, the agreement includes the potential joint production of GE Aerospace’s F414 engines in India.

According to Reuters, these engines will power the Indian Air Force’s Tejas craft.

“This is a historic agreement made possible by our longstanding partnership with India and HAL,”  H Lawrence Culp, Jr., Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of GE and CEO of GE Aerospace, was quoted as saying by India Today. “We are proud to play a role in advancing President Biden and Prime Minister Modi’s vision of closer coordination between the two nations. Our F414 engines are unmatched and will offer important economic and national security benefits for both countries as we help our customers produce the highest quality engines to meet the needs of their military fleet,” he added. $825 million semiconductor facility US memory chip firm Micron has announced it would invest up to $825 million in a new chip assembly and test facility in Gujarat – its first factory in India. Micron announced its total investment in the facility, supported by the Central and state government, would be $2.75 billion. Of that, half would come from the Centre and a fifth from Gujarat. Reuters reported earlier this week that India’s Cabinet approved the project ahead of Modi’s state visit to the US, which kicked off on Wednesday. Micron said construction of the new facility in Gujarat is expected to begin in 2023 and the first phase of the project will be operational in late 2024. A second phase of the project is expected to start toward the second half of the decade, it said. The two phases together will create up to 5,000 new direct Micron jobs. The Times of India quoted Biden as saying, We are doubling down on our cooperation to secure our semiconductor supply chains".

Artemis Accords, joint ISS mission

India has signed the Artemis Accords with the US. Modi, confirming the development at a joint press conference with Biden, was quoted as saying by The Times of India, “We have agreed to join the Artemis Accords. We have taken a new leap in our space cooperation.” [caption id=“attachment_12776602” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] President Joe Biden walks on the dais with Prime Minister Narendra Modi during a State Arrival Ceremony on the South Lawn of the White House. AP[/caption] According to Hindustan Times, Australia, Canada, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom and the United States were the founding members.

There are 25 signatories to the agreement till May 2023.

According to the NASA website, the Artemis Accords were established in 2020 by the US and seven other founding member states. “Through the Artemis program, NASA will land the first woman and first person of color on the Moon, make new scientific discoveries, and explore more of the lunar surface than ever before for the benefit of all,” the website states. “While NASA is leading Artemis, international partnerships will play a key role in achieving a sustainable and robust presence at the Moon where the agency will prepare for the first human mission to Mars,” it adds. “On space, we will be able to announce that India is signing the Artemis Accords, which advance a common vision for space exploration for the benefit of all humankind,” the newspaper quoted a senior administration official as saying. Grounded in the Outer Space Treaty of 1967 (OST), the Artemis Accords are a non-binding set of principles designed to guide civil space exploration and use in the 21st Century. It is an American-led effort to return humans to the moon by 2025, with the ultimate goal of expanding space exploration to Mars and beyond. NASA and ISRO have also agreed to conduct a joint mission to the International Space Station in 2024. An official told The Hindu that NASA and ISRO are also in the process of creating a strategic framework for human spaceflight cooperation in 2023. BECA According to The Print, US and India are likely to agree on certain clauses of the Basic Exchange and Cooperation Agreement (BECA). This agreement, signed in 2020, makes it easier for Washington to give New Delhi specific and detailed intelligence – which it did during the stand-off at the Line of Actual Control.

BECA  allows the sharing of intelligence and information in real time.

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In the future, it will allow New Delhi to take aim at the enemy with ‘pinpoint accuracy’ based on information from Washington. The TImes of India quoted Biden as saying at the press conference that India and the United States are, “…Growing our major defence partnership with more joint exercises, more cooperation between our defence industries, and more consultation and coordination across all domains.” Technology According to The Hindu, India and America will announce a slew of agreements on 5G and 6G and Artificial Intelligence. “Here we’ll be announcing partnerships on open ran, field trials and rollouts, including scale deployments in both countries with operators and vendors of both markets. This will involve backing from the US International Development Finance, for cooperation and to promote the deployments in India,” the official said. A new public-private cooperative forum will be established led by the US Next G Alliance. New Delhi will also be involved in the rip and replace programme which eliminates telecom equipment from untrusted vendors, as per The Hindu. “On advanced computing, artificial intelligence and quantum information science, India and the United States have first established a joint Indo-U.S. quantum coordination mechanism that will facilitate more collaboration between our industries, academia, and government,” official added. The Times of India quoted Modi as saying, “We both agree governments, businesses and academic institutions should come together to fulfil our strategic technology partnership.” H1B visas Reuters reported that the Biden administration is set to announce that a small number of Indians and other foreign workers on H-1B visas will be able to renew those visas in the U.S., without having to travel abroad.

This will make it easier for Indians to live and work in the United States.

People familiar with the matter told Reuters this is part of a pilot program that could be expanded in coming years. A State Department spokesperson declined to comment on questions about which visa types would qualify or the timing of the pilot launch. Plans for a pilot program were first reported by Bloomberg Law in February. “The pilot would begin with a small number of cases with the intention to scale the initiative over the following one to two years,” the spokesperson said, while declining to define small. “We all recognize that mobility of our people is a huge asset to us,” said another US official. “And so our goal is to approach that in a sort of multifaceted way. The State Department already has been working very hard to find creative ways to make changes to things.” Drones According to CNBC, the White House has confirmed that Modi and Biden will announce that India will purchase General Atomics MQ-9 “Reaper” drones from the United States in a mega deal worth billions of dollars. This purchase would improve India’s national security and surveillance capabilities in the Indian Ocean and on the frontier with China. “We are delighted about that because I think that’s going to substantially grow India’s ISR capability which I think is incredibly important and useful to them, both on their posts, above the sea and on their borders,” said the official who spoke on condition of anonymity. Consulates A White House official on Thursday said the US will open two new consulates in Bengaluru and Ahmedabad while India will establish a mission in Seattle to boost people-to-people relationships. “The United States intends to open new consulates in Bengaluru and Ahmedabad. India is likewise welcoming the 2023 opening of its consulate in Seattle and look forward to also announcing a new consulate in the United States,” the official said. The official said the US issued a record 125,000 visas to Indian students last year. Indian students are set to become the largest foreign student community in the United States with a 20 per cent increase last year alone, the senior administration official said. With inputs from agencies Read all the  Latest News ,  Trending News ,  Cricket News ,  Bollywood News , India News  and  Entertainment News  here. Follow us on  Facebook,  Twitter and  Instagram.