EAM, US Secretary of Air Force discuss new opportunities for defence cooperation

New Delhi: External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Tuesday met with US Secretary of Air Force Frank Kendall during which the two sides discussed the global strategic scenario and new opportunities for India-US defence cooperation.
In a tweet, the EAM said:
“Great to catch up with an old friend, US Secretary of Air Force Frank Kendall.
“Discussed the global strategic scenario and new opportunities for India-US defense cooperation.”
The meeting comes more than a month after the two sides held the first meeting of the US-India initiative on Critical and Emerging Technology (iCET), in Washington, that was participated by National Security Advisor Ajit Doval.
During the meeting between NSA Doval and his US counterpart Jake Sullivan, India and the US decided to deepen cooperation on defence, artificial intelligence, quantum technologies, high performance computing, co-production of jet engines, semiconductor supply chain, human spaceflight, commercial space launches and telecom, including 6G.
Among the initiatives announced during the iCET meeting was a new bilateral Defence Industrial Cooperation Roadmap to accelerate technological cooperation for joint development and production of jet engines, munition-related technologies.
Other initiatives include: Long-term research and development cooperation, with a focus on identifying maritime security and intelligence surveillance reconnaissance operational use cases.
A new “Innovation Bridge” that will connect US and Indian defence startups.
Collaboration on high-performance computing (HPC), including by working with US Congress to lower barriers for US exports to India of HPC technology and source code.
UNI