From rare earth mining to border surveillance: Sectors where India-US partnership requires a boost

From primarily being a buyer-seller relationship, today India is a Major Defence Partner for the US. Tracing the footsteps of the India-US defence relationship, it can be said that concrete steps towards cooperation were set in early 2000s post which over the last 15-20 years, defence co-operation between both the nations has become one of the centrepieces of bilateral relations. The signing of the General Security of Military Information Agreement (GSOMIA) in 2002 was followed by the Next Steps in Strategic Partnership (NSSP) initiative in 2004 and the signing of the New Framework for the India-US defence relationship and the Civil Nuclear Cooperation Agreement also called the ‘123 Agreement’ in 2005. It was however in 2012 that the relationship conspicuously transformed with the Defence Technology and Trade Initiative (DTTI) after which President Barack Obama was invited as the Chief Guest at India’s Republic Day in 2015 followed by US Defence Secretary Ashton Carter’s visit to India in the same year. The completion of the four foundational agreements (now more commonly referred to as “enabling” agreements), after nearly two decades added another feather in the relationship. The US and India signed the Logistics Support Agreement (LSA) rebranded as a Logistics Exchange Memorandum of Agreement (LEMOA) in 2016, the Communications Compatibility and Security Agreement (COMCASA) in 2018, the Industrial Security Annex to the GSOMIA in 2019 and the the Basic Exchange and Cooperation Agreement (BECA) for Geospatial Intelligence in 2020. Meanwhile, the US also declared India as a Major Defence Partner in 2016 putting the latter at par with the closest allies of Washington and in 2018 India was granted the category of a ‘Strategic Trade Authorization 1’ country by the US – thereby becoming the third Asian country after Japan and South Korea, paving the way for high-technology product sales. The year 2018 also saw the start of the 2+2 dialogue where the external affairs ministers and the defence ministers of both countries bring together the perspectives of foreign policy, defence and strategic issues. Today almost all of the top US companies have a presence in India in some shape and form – be it Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, Rockwell Collins, Pratt & Whitney, General Atomics, or GE and other major tiered suppliers. From aerostructures to electronics to aero engine components, there are multiple establishments in India in both the manufacturing and the services space. Boeing alone sources more than a billion dollars from Indian vendors for its systems and platforms. Indo-US military trade could reportedly soon touch $25 billion from near zero in 2008. India, with its centrality of geo-strategic location in the Indo-Pacific as well as the only country in the Quad sharing a land boundary with China, is a key part of the US plans to check Chinese rise in the region. India is a natural ally for America’s Indo-Pacific policy in Asia. A strong India with cutting-edge technologies therefore becomes all the more important to counter China’s belligerence in the South China Sea and its increasing presence in the Indian Ocean Region. However, despite all of the above, the US-India strategic partnership still needs to be upscaled. There are many partnerships between India and the US based companies, with sourcing from India by the US companies. There are procurements by India from US-based companies and stakeholders from both sides have made huge investments. However, these are largely transactional interactions, and the strategic side of the engagement now needs to be developed and strengthened. There have not been any significant ToTs that could redefine the Indian ecosystem and neither have there been any jointly developed programs as was identified in the DTTI almost a decade back. DTTI is now rechristened in its new avatar as the US-India Initiative on Critical and Emerging Technology (iCET) but time will tell if there is any change in the core. The world of today is no more dominated by just “uni” or “bi” poles - rather the stakeholders dominating global politics are aplenty. While Asia has the strength of populous diversity, the West still has market prosperity. The African continent is amassed with the most defining element of the 21st century – the rare earth metals while Europe leads in innovation. Power is no longer concentrated in the hands of any one mighty player. Multi-polarity has also made way for greater multilateralism with the group of nations coming together to further interest-based partnerships. In this new setting, the US-India Industrial Partnership requires long term investments and critical technology transfers to make an impact. The two largest democracies need each other in today’s world of shifting alliances. Some of the most critical elements require that the US and India collaborate in earnest and with urgency. It is imperative that the US and India join hands towards rare-earth element mining wherever possible and if not then, working towards a substitute for the same. The technological developments across sectors have a steep dependence on semiconductors which in turn require rare-earths in the production process. A monopolistic scenario by China is not an acceptable scenario for either the US or for India, or for the world. Speaking of core aerospace and defence technological aspects, aero engines and unmanned technologies are again an important area. Multiple dialogues with the US governments and companies have not ended in an agreement yet. It is time that differences are subsumed, and solutions are found towards jointly working on aero engine development. If it requires billions of dollars of offset obligations to be waived off in lieu of the technology transfer, so bet it. If it requires some agreements to be made, it is time that the same are discussed, agreed to and closed within the sovereign sanctity of both countries. Unmanned technologies are again another important area. India’s huge 3.3 million square Kilometres land area and 7500 Kilometres plus coastline requires 24x7 surveillance. With rising costs and constrained budgets, it is important to look at alternatives that can do the job with more accuracy and with less manpower. India’s push towards unmanned / autonomous vehicles (land and aerial) is a welcome move and opportunities to cater to state-of-the-art technologies in this space should not be squandered away. India and the US have much in common from policy to political ecosystem to geo-political goals. This decade can turn out to be the most fruitful in India-US partnership history. A strong India-US strategy implementation framework can make it happen_._ The author is the Chairman and Co-Founder of Primus Partners. Views are personal.  Read all the  Latest News ,  Trending News ,  Cricket News ,  Bollywood News , India News  and  Entertainment News  here. Follow us on  Facebook ,  Twitter  and  Instagram .