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The agreements followed two days of high-level meetings in Washington between government officials and executives from dozens of companies, the first under a new dialogue about critical and emerging technologies that President Joe Biden and India’s prime minister, Narendra Modi, announced in Tokyo in May.

Jake Sullivan, US national security adviser, told reporters Tuesday that the goal was for technological partnerships to be “the next big milestone” in the US-Indian relationship after a 2016 agreement on nuclear power cooperation. He described the effort as a “big foundational piece of an overall strategy to put the entire democratic world in the Indo-Pacific in a position of strength.”

The agreements will be a test of whether the Biden administration can realize its proposal for “friendshoring” by shifting the manufacturing of certain critical components to friendly countries. Biden officials have expressed concerns about the United States’ continued heavy reliance on China for semiconductors, telecommunications parts and other important goods. In recent months they have clamped down on the sale of advanced semiconductor technology to China, in an effort to stymie an industry that the White House says could give China a military advantage.

Many companies have found it difficult to obtain the factory space and skilled workers they would need to move their supply chains out of China. India has a highly skilled workforce and a government that wants to attract more international investment, but multinational companies seeking to operate there continue to complain of onerous regulations, inadequate infrastructure and other barriers.

Both Biden and Modi are also propelling closer US-Indian cooperation in efforts to build out the industrial and innovation bases of their countries, Sullivan said.

The partnerships announced Tuesday include an agreement between the US and Indian national science agencies to cooperate on artificial intelligence and advanced wireless technology, as well as in other areas.

The countries also pledged to speed up their efforts to jointly produce and develop certain defense technologies, including jet engines, artillery systems and armored infantry vehicles. The United States said it would look to quickly review a new proposal by General Electric to produce a jet engine with India.

Officials also said they would work together to facilitate the build-out of an advanced mobile network in India and look for new cooperation in semiconductor production, including efforts to help India bolster chip research and production that would complement major investments in the industry in the United States.

The new dialogue would include efforts to work through regulatory barriers, as well as visa restrictions that have prevented talented Indians from working in the United States, the countries said.

But experts said India would need to continue to reform its permitting and tax system to lure more foreign manufacturing companies. And the United States would need to reform restrictions on transferring defense-related technology outside the country, they said, if it hopes to work with India to produce jet engines and other advanced weapons.

Analysts also noted that many of the technology partnerships would hinge on new connections between the countries’ private sectors, meaning that the agreements could go only so far.

India’s frequent purchases of Russian military equipment and close ties with Russia also present another wrinkle to the planned partnership. But Biden officials said they believed that the cooperation could accelerate India’s move away from Russia, to the benefit of its relationship with the United States.

On 30 January, Sullivan, Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo and India’s national security adviser, Ajit Doval, met with more than 40 company executives, university presidents and others, including executives from Lockheed Martin, Tata, Adani Defense and Aerospace, and Micron Technology.

“It has the potential to take US-India ties to the next level,” Tanvi Madan, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, said of the initiative. The trick, she added, will be “getting from potential and promises to outcomes.”

“Many of the decisions to collaborate or not will be made in the private sector, and companies will be assessing the business case as much as, if not more than, the strategic case,” Madan said.

India has traditionally been known as a difficult partner for the United States in trade negotiations. In the talks that the Biden administration is carrying out in Asia, known as the Indo-Pacific Economic Forum, India bowed out of the trade portion of the deal, though it has continued to negotiate in areas such as clean energy, supply chains and labor standards.

But analysts said the Indian government was far more motivated on national security matters, and particularly tempted by the prospects of working with the United States to cultivate cutting-edge tech industries.

“We both have a common purpose here, which is the fear that China is going to eat our lunch in all the sectors unless we find areas to cooperate and collaborate,” said Richard M. Rossow, a senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

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The engine, which may come up within seven years of starting work, will be used for the future class of Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft (AMCA), the fifth generation fighter currently in development for the Indian Air Force.

During his annual press conference on 5 September, Air Chief Marshal R.K.S. Bhadauria indicated the possibility of a Joint Venture(JV) in developing fighter jet aero-engine in India that will potentially set forth a new era of aerospace in India. He put his trust on home grown LCA Tejas MK1A and 5th Gen AMCA for IAF over foreign fighter jets.

Complexity of Aeroengines

The difficulty is not in designing an aeroengine. It lies in maturing it for working for 6000-8000 hours. Most critical parts are the combustion chamber (where fuel is burnt) and turbine blades.

A fighter engine must be able to withstand temp up to 2700°C continuously. That is a challenge. At such high temperatures in the combustion chamber, turbine blades, nozzles, etc, must withstand them without getting fatigued or damaged permanently.

ALSO READ: What is the Status of Kaveri Aero Engine?

Some of the major obstacles are :

•             Single Crystal Turbine blades: They are in the turbine section behind the combustion chamber where temperatures exceed the melting point of steel. The material used is a titanium that is a single crystal from top to bottom. The metallurgical techniques to do this are closely guarded secrets.

•             Combustion Chamber lining: This section faces hellfire and does not even have a cooling system build into it. It needs a coating that can stand up to the heat and radiate it away from the bulk of the combustion chamber. The composition of this coating is a very well guarded military secret.

•             Precise and complex machining techniques: Any inconsistency in the stock metals or asymmetry in machining will cause devastating results.

•             Funding: Getting governments to invest money into a project that will almost definitely exceed time and budgetary constraints will take a lot of negotiation.

Recommendations

Cmde Sujeet Samaddar, Founder of SAMDeS has made the following recommendations to energise aerospace industry

•             Say No to offsets. Require 30% local content on imports.

•             Delete Quantity Vetting (QV) clause in Defence Acquisition Procedure (DAP). No QV based batch production but pipeline production of budgeted annual targets of 24 LCAs, 36 Light Combat Helicopter (LCH), 12 HTT-40 trainder, 6-12 Light Transport Aircraft (LTA) and 36 Light Utility Helicopter (LUH). This will create the vendor base and a long-term sustainable industry and promote exports. Replicate the Planning Commission model RFP for long-term procurement and maintenance contracts.

•             Make Aero Engines in India. Way forward is (1) One mega RFP to select one engine-maker who can provide the entire range of engines for the LCA/AMCA/DBA, LCH, Naval Utility Helicopter (NUH) and (2) another mega RFP for turbo-props for the entire transport fleet both commercial and military.

•             Foreign OEMs should look at the entire package that the Govt of India offers and not just the DAP. Includes, Lowest Tax Rates for new manufacturing entities, liberal FDI, ease of doing business, trans-border supply chains, National Electronic Policy, Industrial Corridors, relaxations for MRO, EXIM Banks schemes for credit and overseas investment and so many more.

•             The business of leasing is here. Entrepreneurs should get in touch and start the first lease project together for rapid force modernisation.

•             Aerospace materials – Graphene, CNT, Al-alloys (2. 7 series), Composites, Li, Co all possible through smart recycling.

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