NEW DELHI — India and the U.K. have decided to enhance defense ties based on the joint development and production of weapons at Indian facilities under the 'Make In India' policy. This was decided during a meeting here on Thursday between the visiting U.K. secretary of defense, Michael Fallon, and his Indian counterpart, Arun Jaitley.
"The renewed engagement will place capability and technology development at its core and seek to harness the complementary strengths of both nations in defense manufacturing and use the combined strengths of their respective private and public sectors to develop defense solutions for use in both home and shared export markets," according to a joint statement issued by the Indian Ministry of Defence.
A senior MoD official pointed out that the two countries are devising a mechanism to identify defense projects that could be jointly developed and produced and even exported; however, no blueprint has yest been crafted.
The fate of the Advanced Hawk trainer aircraft, for which the state enterprise Hindustan Aeronautics Limited is the prime supplier for wings, avionics and multifunction display systems, is uncertain, as the Indian Air Force has not committed to ordering the aircraft.
BAE Systems and HAL signed a memorandum of understanding in 2015 to fund the development and production of the trainer with a combat role capability. The aircraft was to be marketed for both the domestic and export market, and it even debuted at the Aero India 2017 show in Bangalore in February.
Another MoD official said that unless the Rolls-Royce bribery investigation here is complete and settled, no further programs will be pursued with the British company, including those related to the trainer aircraft.
Corruption allegations against the company widened in October when a joint investigation by the BBC and The Guardian newspaper accused the engine builder of being involved in secret payments to supply the power plants destined to equip Hawk jet trainers purchased by the Indian military.
While speaking to reporters here, Fallon evaded questioning regarding the Rolls-Royce bribery investigation.
The MoD release only offered that "Jaitley welcomed the UK's interest in manufacturing in India as evidenced through recent announcements including the Memorandum of Understanding between Bharat Dynamics Ltd. and Thales UK on technology transfer opportunities for missile systems and efforts to develop an Advanced Hawk jet trainer jointly by the BAE Systems and Hindustan Aeronautics Limited."
In February, Thales UK and India's state-owned missile producer Bharat Dynamics Limited signed an agreement to assess opportunities for the transfer of technology of the short-range man-portable air-defense system Starstreak in India. However, the status of the project remains unknown beyond the memorandum stage.
The two countries also decided to build their defense ties on "Capability Partnerships."
India and the U.K. will endeavour to build a range of capability partnerships focusing on varied aspects of military effectiveness such as specialized training interactions and an exchange of best practices in the areas of counterterrorism, counter-improvised explosive devices, air force training, air total safety, aircraft carriers, maritime safety, shipbuilding and United Nations peacekeeping, according to the MoD release.
Vivek Raghuvanshi is the India correspondent for Defense News.
