JET ENGINES, DRONES, SEMICONDUCTORS
Major announcements expected during Modi’s visit are US approval to General Electric to manufacture engines in India for its domestically produced fighter jets, India’s purchase of 31 armed MQ-9B SeaGuardian drones made by General Atomics worth US$3 billion, and the removal of US obstacles that prevent smoother trade in defence and high technology.
“People will be looking back on this visit by Prime Minister Modi as a real springboard for the US-India relationship, as it relates to defence … issues in particular,” Ely Ratner, Assistant Secretary of Defense for Indo-Pacific Security Affairs, said at a Jun 8 event.
A stronger India that can defend its own interests and can contribute to regional security is good for the United States, he said, adding that there is an aspiration to see India as an exporter of security in the region.
Cooperation in semiconductors, cyberspace, aerospace, strategic infrastructure and communication, commercial space projects, quantum computing and the use of artificial intelligence in industrial and defence fields will also be discussed, a senior Indian official said.
During the three-day visit that begins in New York on Jun 21, Modi will be hosted by President Biden for a state dinner and a private family dinner, attend lunch with Vice President Kamala Harris and Secretary of State Antony Blinken, and address a joint session of Congress for the second time in nine years.
Modi will also meet American CEOs and lead an International Yoga Day event at the United Nations’ headquarters.
“This is not a routine visit, this is a fundamental turning point between India and the US,” C Raja Mohan, senior fellow at the Asia Society Policy Institute in New Delhi.
“This is not a question of containing China or anti-China. This is about producing a new balance of power in Asia, which is a multipolar Asia, where there is no single power dominating it,” he said.