India- USA agree to sign defence agreement to strengthen ties

New Delhi (India) July 3: A 10-year plan to strengthen defence and strategic relations between India and the United States has been agreed upon by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and his American counterpart, Pete Hegseth. On Wednesday, the Pentagon issued a statement mentioning the defence framework decision, one day after Singh and US Defence Secretary Hegseth spoke over the phone.

According to the report, the two sides talked about the necessity of close military industry cooperation between the two nations and pending significant US defence sales to India.

The official statement said, “Secretary Hegseth and Minister Singh agreed to sign the next 10-year US-India Defence Framework when they next meet this year. Secretary Hegseth emphasised the priority the United States places on India as its key defence partner in South Asia.”

The two leaders discussed the "considerable progress" both nations have made in reaching the defence objectives defined in the joint statement released by President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Narendra Modi in February 2025.

According to sources, Singh urged Hegseth to speed up the supply of GE F404 engines to power the Tejas Light Combat Aircraft during the Tuesday phone call.

Singh also argued for the early completion of a potential agreement between US defence giant GE Aerospace and Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. (HAL) for the joint production of F414 jet engines in India.

Due to GE Aerospace's delayed delivery of F404 engines, HAL was unable to meet the Indian Air Force's Tejas Mark 1A aircraft delivery date.

The much anticipated Apache attack helicopters are also scheduled to arrive within the next two weeks after the meeting between the defence ministers of the United States and India.

The first shipment of three Apache AH-64E attack helicopters from the United States is scheduled to arrive by July 15. And by November of this year, the next three helicopters will be delivered.

Multiple deadlines have been missed for the delivery of six AH-64E Apache attack helicopters to the Indian Army under a $600 million agreement signed with the United States in 2020. Due to supply chain interruptions, the delivery date was moved from May or June 2024 to December 2024.

Hegseth was quoted by the US Department of Defence as saying that Trump and Modi had established a "strong foundation for our relationship, which we're building on here today: productive, pragmatic and realistic."

The two parties also talked about attending the upcoming India-US Defence Acceleration Ecosystem Summit, where they would continue to develop their defence industry collaboration and create new technological and manufacturing advancements.

Aadrika Tayal