On September 8, 2023, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Joe Biden issued a Joint Statement following a meeting in New Delhi on the eve of the G-20 Summit. The leaders of the two countries reaffirmed their commitment to deepen and diversify the India-U.S. strategic alliance.
The statement called for expanded cooperation in new and emerging domains such as space and artificial intelligence (AI), and accelerated defence industrial collaboration. It noted the steps taken to implement the decisions taken by the two leaders during Prime Minister Modi’s state visit to the US in June this year.
Negotiations between the American company GE Aerospace and Hindustan Aeronautical Limited (HAL) to jointly manufacture GE F-414 jet engines in India are at an advanced stage. The US will share the technology for manufacturing these engines with India.
A Master Ship Repair Agreement has been concluded between US and India. It was signed by the U.S. Navy and Mazgaon Dock Shipbuilders, Ltd., in August 2023 and is the second such agreement. The Indian government has agreed to develop India as a hub for the maintenance and repair of forward-deployed U.S. Navy ships and aircraft. The US will assist India in creating advanced facilities for the repair and maintenance of US ships and aircraft.
The India-U.S. Defence Acceleration Ecosystem (INDUS-X) team has been set up. Its aims is to ensure close and active collaboration between the scientific establishments of the two countries on defense related research. INDUS-X has already entered into several start-up partnerships with American universities and Indian IITs.
The Ministry of Defence’s Innovations for Defence Excellence and the U.S. Department of Defense’s Defense Innovation Unit have announced the decision to launch two joint programs. They will invite startups to develop solutions to defence technology challenges.
US and Indian companies will work closely on developing 5-G and 6-G technology. The decision to expand India-U.S. collaboration in space and in nuclear energy, including developing next generation nuclear reactors, was announced.
India is buying from the US 31 General Atomics MQ-9B (16 Sky Guardian and 15 Sea Guardian) remotely piloted aircraft and their associated equipment. These drones will increase the intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities of India’s armed forces.
These developments reveal the all-round strengthening of the Indo US military strategic alliance.
Over the past 75 years, India has developed indigenous capability to build and maintain fighter aircraft and war ships. It has developed missiles for different ranges as well as missile launching capabilities. It also has a well-developed space program and nuclear weapons. Step by step, the US is trying to integrate different components of India’s defense sector — including the armed forces, the defence industry, and the research departments of the higher technical institutes — with its own military industrial complex. India’s scientists and engineers will carry out research and create startups which will serve the US war machine. Indian military facilities will be used by the US as forward bases for their military operations in the region.
The US imperialists view China as the main roadblock to establishing American domination over the Indo Pacific region at the present time. They are keen to draw India as a partner in their strategy to dominate the region. They have been egging on the Indian ruling class against China.
The Indian ruling class has its own imperialist ambitions. It wants to use the sharpening conflict between the US and China to advance its own interests, in rivalry with China. It wants to build a military industrial complex by following the US model and with the assistance of the US.
The US imperialists want the countries of Asia to fight and destroy each other, paving the way for the US to dominate this continent. They are exploiting the imperialist ambitions of the Indian ruling class for this purpose.
In 2016, the US categorised India as a major defence partner and embarked on a program to supply the Indian armed forces certain sophisticated weapons systems, which it had earlier supplied only to its NATO allies. India has signed four foundation agreements with the US: Basic Exchange and Cooperation Agreement for Geospatial Intelligence (BECA); General Security of Military Information Agreement (GSOMIA); Logistics Exchange Memorandum of Agreement (LEMOA); Communications Compatibility and Security Agreement (COMCASA). These agreements have paved the way for close operational coordination between the armed forces of the two countries. The Indo-Pacific Command of the US Armed Forces has established a centre in New Delhi to coordinate with the Indian armed forces directly, with the possibility of bypassing the civilian government.
The US imperialists’ want to use the Indian people in their criminal war plans for dominating Asia and the whole world. This is completely against the interests of the peoples of India and of other countries.
We must resolutely oppose the strengthening of the military strategic alliance between India and the US. US imperialism has never been and will never be a friend of the Indian people.