Rajnath Singh meets US defence industry captains, pushes India as export hub

Defence minister Rajnath Singh said that together, Indian and US companies will co-develop and co-produce for the world.

Defence minister Rajnath Singh on Friday interacted with captains of several American defence companies in Washington and outlined the emerging co-development and co-production opportunities in India while enumerating reforms initiated by the government to make the country an attractive destination for foreign original equipment manufacturers and an alternative export hub.

 “Singh highlighted that ‘partnership and joint efforts’ are the two keywords that differentiate India’s defence industry from other nations,” the defence ministry said in a statement on Saturday.

US-India Strategic Partnership Forum organised the industry roundtable.

The companies represented at the event included General Electric, Boeing, General Atomics, General Dynamics Land Systems, L3Harris, Lockheed Martin, Raytheon Technologies and Rolls Royce. India is negotiating key deals with some of them.

“Had fruitful interaction with leading US defence companies. Invited them to work with Indian partners to accelerate our Make in India program towards achieving Atmanirbharta in defence sector. Together, Indian and US companies will co-develop and co-produce for the world,” Singh wrote on X.

Last year, Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) and GE signed a memorandum of understanding for transfer of technology (ToT) and manufacturing of F414 aero-engines for the future light combat aircraft (LCA MK-2).

The joint production of GE’s F414 engines in India, for which negotiations are in full swing, will help the country overcome a striking technology gap, lay the foundation for indigenous development of bigger jet engines, and possibly open doors to exports. However, the current LCA Mk-1A programme is running behind schedule and one of the main reasons for that is the lingering delay in the supply of the F404 engines to HAL by the US firm. The delivery of the engines is delayed by around 10 months.

Deepening defence industrial cooperation was high on the agenda during Singh’s meetings with US national security advisor Jake Sullivan and secretary of defence Lloyd Austin.

India’s defence landscape has transformed in the last few years.

The value of exports in 2023-24 was 32.5% higher than what it was in the preceding year when it stood at ₹15,920 crore. Defence exports have grown 31 times in the past 10 years, the data shows.