United States And India agreed today a roadmap for military-industrial cooperation at a time when New Delhi is seeking to reduce its reliance on Russian weapons and amid tensions with Beijing.

“We have developed an ambitious new roadmap for industrial cooperation in the defense sector that will accelerate priority joint development and joint production programs,” said US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, ending his visit to India. capital.

The visit is part of an Asia tour celebrating the growing influence of China and an increasingly militant North Korea that has previously taken Austin to Japan and Singapore.

However, analysts warn that these promises must be backed up with concrete action.

India’s goal is independence from Russia

New Delhi and Moscow have been allies for decades, and Russia is by far India’s largest arms supplier.

Today, India, which has never condemned Russia for its invasion of Ukraine, is seeking to end this dependency in the military sector, both by expanding sources of arms imports and by increasing its own production.

Western countries, including the US and France, are negotiating billions of dollars in deals, and diplomats say India attaches great importance to technology transfer in any deal.

Thus, the agreement with Washington will accelerate technological cooperation and joint production, in particular, in air combat systems and ground vehicles, “underwater area” and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, according to the US Department of Defense.

The Indian Ministry of Defense specified that the talks “were focused on finding means to strengthen industrial cooperation” with Washington, mainly “to jointly develop new technologies and jointly produce existing and new systems.”

^{Source: APE, AFP, Reuters.}