The Raisina Dialogue DC
Washington DC | February 23, 2023
Background
As part of the Raisina Dialogue DC 2023, ORF America along with the Asia Group hosted a private breakfast roundtable (in-person) on Accelerating the U.S.-India Defense Industrial Partnership. The roundtable featured the launch and release of a new report Precision Targets: Accelerating U.S.-India Defense Industrial Cooperation by Dhruva Jaishankar and Gopal Nadadur. The report outlines how to build upon U.S.-India defense co-production opportunities and make the commercial case for cooperation. Participants included key stakeholders from the U.S. Government including the National Security Council, State Department and the Pentagon and U.S. and Indian industries and thought leaders.
Summary
The next nine months to one year are critical to both the U.S. and India for boosting defense industrial cooperation. The strategic vision—amplified more recently by the initiative on Critical and Emerging Technologies (iCET) —and the political will exists. Translating this into reality will require strengthening the “business case”; something which the 2008 Civil Nuclear deal couldn’t do so thoroughly. To that end, participants flagged key challenges such as systemic export control reforms (ITAR & DIFAR), inter-agency coordination, bureaucratic inertia, pace vs predictability, peculiarities of Indian and U.S. defense industries and intellectual property protection.
Participants also highlighted the opportunity of Indian defense exports to third countries and reflected on previous attempts at defense cooperation like the Defense Technology and Trade Initiative (DTTI). However, participants suggested that India’s asymmetric advantages, massive talent base, favorable geopolitics and sustained attention by high-level principals can sustain the momentum on this. Various mechanisms like the “2+2” Dialogue, the Defense Policy Group etc. can serve as forums to flag issues and galvanize action on defense industrial cooperation. Nascent efforts are also underway to advance cooperation on emerging tech capabilities.
To know more about the opportunities and challenges in U.S.-India defense co-production, read ORF America’s latest background paper on Precision Targets: Accelerating U.S.-India defense industrial cooperation here.