USA-India Defense Technology & Trade Initiative

Table of Contents

USA-India Defense Technology & Trade Initiative- Relevance for UPSC Examination

GS Paper 2: International Relations- Bilateral, regional and global groupings and agreements involving India and/or affecting India’s interests.

Recently, India and the United States had signed a Project Agreement (PA) for Air-Launched Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (ALUAV) under the ambit of the Defence Technology and Trade Initiative (DTTI).
The Project Agreement (PA) was signed between the Ministry of Defence (MoD) and the U.S. Department of Defence (DoD).
The PA for the ALUAV fell under the Research, Development, Testing, and Evaluation Memorandum of Agreement between MoD and U.S. DoD, which was first signed in January 2006 and renewed in January 2015.

Origin of Defense Technology & Trade Initiative: The DTTI was announced in 2012 as an ambitious initiative for co-production and co-development of military systems.
About Defense Technology & Trade Initiative: It is not a treaty or a law. It is basically a defense strategy to facilitate the development of defense technology by reducing bureaucratic processes and legal requirements in all possible ways.
- it is a flexible mechanism to make sure that senior leaders from both countries are engaged consistently to strengthen the opportunities in the field of defence.
Key Aim of Defense Technology & Trade Initiative: to bring sustained leadership focus to promote collaborative technology exchange and create opportunities for co-production and co-development of future technologies for Indian and U.S. military forces.
Progress so far: Under the DTTI, Joint Working Groups on land, naval, air, and aircraft carrier technologies have been established to focus on mutually agreed projects in respective domains.

It has the potential to help the US and India transform the bilateral defense relationship.
A collaborative Approach (instead of just a buyer-seller relationship) under the Defense Technology & Trade Initiative can strengthen India’s defense industrial base.
Focus on advanced technologies the Defense Technology & Trade Initiative can lead to cooperation and collaboration in the field of Science and Technology.
Collaboration under Defense Technology & Trade Initiative has the potential to expand business ties between India and the USA.