By: Logan M. Williams, Warrior Editorial Fellow | Author’s Twitter
Warrior Maven had the distinct honor and pleasure to partner with CUTS International and the U.S.-India Strategic Partnership Forum in hosting a roundtable on the Future of the U.S.-India Defense Partnership. This event celebrated the immense progress that has been made in advancing the U.S.-India bilateral relationship through the efforts of recent government administrations in both states — these efforts have transformed this relationship from a hope to an ambition, and then into a reality. India is rapidly becoming one of the United States’ closest friends and most critical partners; and furthermore, since this partnership is burgeoning, there is tremendous potential for future growth, based upon the promise of mutual respect.
While the roundtable highlighted the United States’ and India’s shared priorities for preserving and securing a free and open Indo-Pacific region, especially in the face of the People’s Republic of China (PRC)’s subversion and aggression, the event also focused upon how the United States supports India’s unique aspirations and interests. For example, CUTS International highlighted their organizational goal of transforming India into a $30-trillion economy (approximately equal to the United States’ GDP and twice China’s present GDP) by 2047 — in honor of India’s centennial celebration of freedom from the British colonial empire. The United States’ cooperation with India within the innovation sphere, particularly increased cooperation between the United States’ and India’s defense industrial base, is critical to India achieving this goal.
Pradeep Mehta, the Secretary General of CUTS International, who made the lengthy trip from India to speak at the event, placed a strong emphasis upon this technological cooperation.
Sec. Gen. Mehta began his remarks by invoking President Biden’s National Defense Industrial Strategy (NDIS), an innovative, sweeping national plan for achieving the defense industrial supremacy that was lost following the Cold War — and the United States’ first-ever effort to create a framework through the Department of Defense to bolster defense manufacturing nation-wide. Mehta noted that President Biden’s ambitious NDIS “discusses the need for sustained global partnerships and acknowledges that by working together, ‘we and our allies and partners can address capacity and capability gaps, enhance production capacity and capabilities, boost economic advantages, and re-enforce alliances.’” Mehta argued that India’s “abundance of skilled manpower” and youth eager to specialize in STEM-related areas, made the future South-East Asian powerhouse an ideal partner for the United States in the spheres of “joint innovation and start-ups, facilities for R&D, technical guidance and mentoring, testing facilities, investments, [skills training], jobs and [other] economic benefits.”
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Mehta then praised the U.S.-India initiative on Critical and Emerging Technology (iCET), stating that it presents an opportunity for a “quantum leap in the India-U.S. relationship.” The iCET arrangement is a commitment between these two states to cooperate toward advancing the development of key, strategic technologies — primarily, artificial intelligence, quantum computing, semiconductors, and wireless telecommunications. In addition to these technologies, iCET intends to enhance the cooperative production of critical minerals and rare earth processing technologies, as well as biotechnology — to further reduce dependence upon China. To facilitate the cooperative production of these technologies, the U.S. National Science Foundation and various science agencies in India (including the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) and the Department of Biotechnology) inked an implementation agreement creating a research agency partnership. Additionally, a taskforce was initiated between the United States’ Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) and the India Electronics Semiconductor Association (IESA), to identify potential synergies for promoting cooperative production and building resilient supply chains. Finally, in the realm of Outer Space, the United States and India have bolstered the pre-existing India-U.S. Civil Space Working Group to include military and defense matters.
