New Delhi (TDI): India is in talks with the United States for the purchase and co-production of combat vehicles as well as finalizing a fighter jet engine agreement, as Prime Minister Narendra Modi meets President Donald Trump this week.
As the world’s biggest arms importer, India has traditionally depended on Russia.
Last month, Trump urged Modi who is set to visit Washington on Wednesday for a two-day trip, to purchase more US-made security equipment and work toward a balanced trade relationship.
India and the US have been in protracted negotiations over the co-production of Stryker combat vehicles made by General Dynamics and also used by the US Army, according to Reuters.
They are also working to wrap up contract discussions on co-production of fighter jet engines in India for the Indian Air Force, an agreement agreed in 2023.
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“We want to accelerate the transaction process with the US,” Defence Production Secretary Sanjeev Kumar told journalists on Sunday.
Officials of India’s state-owned Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd are set to meet in coming weeks with US officials and the aerospace unit of General Electric, maker of GE-414 engines, for discussions to finalise the agreement by March.
India has started talks with the Trump administration on a plan to buy Stryker vehicles after they were demonstrated in 2024 for the Indian Army.
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The plan envisages that New Delhi will get a few hundred Strykers with a mounted anti-tank guided missile system, and later co-produce them in a state-run company.
