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US Defence Secretary’s first visit to India to uplift defence cooperation

Austin’s stop in India is a continuation to the Biden-Harris administration's outreach to revitalise ties with partners and allies.

March 22, 2021 By Ayushee Chaudhary Photo(s): By PIB
The United States of America’s Secretary of Defence Lloyd J. Austin III with India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the first day of the former’s visit to India

The United States of America’s Secretary of Defence Lloyd J. Austin III arrived in India on March 19 on an official visit to meet India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh for strengthening defence ties between the two nations.

The two sides reaffirmed their commitment to promote a free and open regional order and exchanged perspectives on shared challenges confronting the region and committed to further strengthen their broad ranging and robust defence cooperation.

On the first day of his visit to India, Secretary Austin met with Prime Minister Modi during a stop in New Delhi as well as the National Security Advisor Doval.

Austin commended the Indian leaders on their growing roles in the Indo-Pacific region and the growing engagement they have with like-minded partners across the region to promote shared goals.

The purpose of this stop in India is consistent with the themes of Austin’s overall trip, which are focused on building United States (U.S.) partnerships across the region and operationalising the defence partnership the U.S. has with India, a senior U.S. official said.

The defence partnership between the two countries has witnessed significant growth over the years. In 2008, there was no defence trade between the United States of America (USA) and India. However, last year, India bought $20 billion in defence capabilities from the U.S., the official statement from the U.S.’ Department of Defence (DOD) stated.

Austin commended the Indian leaders on their growing roles in the Indo-Pacific region and the growing engagement they have with like-minded partners across the region to promote shared goals.

The partnership is based on a convergence of strategic interests that the U.S. has with India. "We're increasingly looking at how we can build on the U.S.-India partnership with other like-minded partners.It’s how we can network and build our partnerships with India and with other partners, whether it's in the Indian Ocean or in the Pacific Ocean,” said a U.S. official.

Adding that the multinational actions are key to this, the official said, "The secretary is looking to reinforce the partnership that we have with India and to encourage India's leading role in security across the Indo-Pacific region."

DOD also wants to advance interoperability with Indian forces and look for ways to work together. The convergence of ideas includes freedom of navigation, freedom of commerce and the peaceful resolution of disputes. These converging strategic interests are the basis for cooperation.

Prime Minister Modi welcomed the warm and close relationship between the two countries, which he highlighted is rooted in shared values of democracy, pluralism and commitment to a rules-based order.

Modi outlined his vision for the strategic partnership between the two countries and emphasised the important role of bilateral defence cooperation in India-U.S. ties.

“Our relationship is a stronghold of free & open Indo-Pacific region. PM Modi stated India stands for freedom of navigation & freedom of overflight, unimpeded lawful commerce in adherence to international law. This reaffirms our shared vision for regional security,” said Secretary Austin.

Prime Minister Modi outlined his vision for the strategic partnership between the two countries and emphasised the important role of bilateral defence cooperation in India-U.S. ties.

On March 20, Secretary Austin met with Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and Minister of External Affairs, Dr. S. Jaishankar.

The Secretary reiterated U.S. Government’s continued commitment towards strengthening the bilateral defence relations between the two countries. He expressed U.S.’s strong desire to further enhance the strategic partnership for peace, stability and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific region and beyond.

“It is a great honour and pleasure to receive U.S. Secretary of Defence in his first official visit abroad and to India. I spoke with Secretary Austin immediately after he assumed charge. We had an excellent conversation during which I invited him to visit India at his earliest convenience. His visit to India despite the COVID-19 global pandemic, shows the abiding commitment of the United States to our bilateral relationship,” said Defence Minister Singh.

He underlined that a comprehensive and fruitful discussion was held with Secretary Austin and his delegation and the nations are keen to work together to realise the full potential of the India-U.S. Comprehensive Global Strategic Partnership.

“Our discussions today focussed on a wide ranging defence cooperation and expanding military-to-military engagement across services, information sharing, cooperation in emerging sectors of defence, and mutual logistics support,” Singh added.

DOD highlighted that India is open to cooperating with the United States and others. India recently participated in the Malabar exercises with Japan, Australia and the U.S., and they have participated in the Rim of the Pacific exercises. "So whether it's information-sharing on maritime domain awareness in the Indian Ocean region or looking at maritime security or potentially even building partner-capacity across the Indo-Pacific region, the nations are open to network, and build together by pooling in resources and distributing them,” said a DOD official.

Defence Minister Singh also spoke about the multilateral exercise and mentioned, “We reviewed the wide gamut of bilateral and multilateral exercises and agreed to pursue enhanced cooperation with the US Indo-Pacific Command, Central Command and Africa Command. Acknowledging that we have in place the foundational agreements, LEMOA, COMCASAand BECA, we discussed steps to be taken to realise their full potential for mutual benefit.”

Singh further appreciated Secretary Austin for participation of U.S. in Aero India 2021 along with a business delegation.

In October 2020, India and the United States had signed the Basic Exchange and Cooperation Agreement (BECA), which, along with the two agreements signed earlier — the Logistics Exchange Memorandum of Agreement (LEMOA) and the Communications Compatibility and Security Agreement (COMCASA) — completes a troika of “foundational pacts” for deep military cooperation between the two countries. The LEMOA was the first of the three pacts to be signed in August 2016, while COMCASA was signed in September 2018.

BECA is aimed at assiting India in receiving real-time access to American geospatial intelligence in order to enhance the accuracy of automated systems and weapons like missiles and armed drones. With LEMOA the militaries of the U.S. and India can better replenish from each other’s bases, and access supplies, spare parts and services from each other’s land facilities, air bases, and ports, which can then be reimbursed. This is believed to be significantly helpful for India-U.S. Navy-to-Navy cooperation. As for the COMCASA pact, it allows the US to provide India with its encrypted communications equipment and systems.

Defence Minister Singh further appreciated Secretary Austin for participation of U.S. in Aero India 2021 along with a business delegation. “I invited U.S. industry to take advantage of India’s liberalised foreign direct investment (FDI) policies in the defence sector. We both agreed that there are opportunities for collaboration in defence industry.”

Showcasing its strong commitment to strengthen the military partnership between the two nations, the US Embassy had organised the U.S. India Defence Partnership Seminar during the hybrid Aero India 2021. The seminar witnessed addresses from multiple speakers representing the different industries from both the countries, talking about the current and future of the bilateral defence partnership.

A joint statement was also presented by the Defence Secretary and the Defence Minister.

The Defence Minister also mentioned about the recent Leaders’ Summit of India, USA, Japan and Australia under the Quad framework emphasised our resolve to maintain a free, open and inclusive Indo-Pacific region. “We discussed the need for enhanced capacity building to address some of the non-traditional challenges such as oil spills and environment disasters, drug trafficking, Illegal, Unreported, Unregulated (IUU) fishing, etc. India is committed to further consolidate our robust defence partnership with the United States. I look forward to working with you closely to make the India-U.S. relationship one of the defining partnerships of 21st century,” he said.

Austin also pointed out, “We discussed engagement with like-minded partners through multilateral groupings like Quad & ASEAN. As Indo-Pacific region faces acute transnational challenges & challenges to a free & open regional order, cooperation among like-minded countries is imperative.”

We also reaffirmed that closer India-U.S. cooperation in partnership with countries keen to uphold rules-based order, can promote security and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific region and beyond as this is consistent with India's policy of 'SAGAR', highlighted Singh.

The Secretary also stated, “Despite today’s challenging security environment, the partnership between the United States and India - the world’s two largest democracies...remains resilient and strong and we will seek every opportunity to build upon this major partnership.”

Austin’s stop in India is a continuation to the Biden-Harris administration's outreach to revitalise ties with partners and allies. United States has constantly highlighted how India for them is a "major defence partner" — a unique designation. India is the third country Austin has visited on his first overseas trip. Before reaching India, he met with Japanese officials March 15-16 and South Korean leaders March 17-18.

The Obama-Biden Administration had named India a 'Major Defence Partner' that made it easier to share advanced and critical technology to India to strengthen defence ties. Before taking the office, Austin had also stated about his overarching objective for our defence relationship with India adding that he will operationalise India's "Major Defence Partner" status and build upon the existing strong defence cooperation between the two countries to ensure the US and Indian militaries can collaborate to address shared interests.

Secretary Austin also paid his respects at the national memorial to the brave soldiers who, for India, made the ultimate sacrifice.

During the delegation level talks held at Vigyan Bhawan on Saturday, Defence Secretary Ajay Kumar, Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat and the three Services Chiefs were also present.

 

Some highlights from U.S. Defence Secretary's visit to India:

  • Austin's India visit was focused on operationalising the defence partnership between the U.S. and India.
  • The stop was in continuation to the Biden-Harris administration's outreach to revitalise ties with partners and allies.
  • Before reaching India, Austin met with Japanese officials on March 15-16 and South Korean leaders on March 17-18.
  • In India, U.S. Defence Secretary met Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and External Affairs Minister Dr. S. Jaishankar.
  • In 2008, there was no defence trade between the USA and India. However, last year, India bought $20 billion in defence capabilities from the U.S.
  • U.S. aims to further enhance the strategic partnership for peace, stability and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific region and beyond.
  • Discussions happened on defence cooperation and expanding military-to-military engagement across services, information sharing, cooperation in emerging sectors of defence and mutual logistics support.
  • Reviewing bilateral and multilateral exercises, the leaders acknowledged the foundational agreements of LEMOA, COMCASA and BECA whose full potential is to be explored.
  • Engagement with like-minded partners through multilateral groupings like Quad & ASEAN was underlined as imperative.

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