Officials from the US and Indian Departments of Defense announced the creation of joint military technology development mechanisms to increase cooperation and interoperability between the two nations.
The countries unveiled the ' India-US Defense Acceleration Ecosystem', dubbed INDUS-X, during a June 21 summit hosted by the US Chamber of Commerce.
The effort provides an avenue for funnelling technology developed by startups and other commercial companies to the US and Indian defence services.
The announcement comes as Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi visits the US, seeking to strengthen ties between the two countries. "INDUS-X provides a mechanism to drive change," said US Deputy Undersecretary of Defense for Procurement and Sustainment Radha Iyengar Plumb at the summit.
India's Ministry of Defence has set a target of increasing its annual exports to $5 billion by 2025, and the agency sees co-development and co-production with the US as a means of achieving this goal. The US wants to strengthen relations in the Indo-Pacific region and considers the country a key partner.
The creation of INDUS-X is one of several joint technology initiatives between the two nations in recent years.
Last year, US President Joe Biden and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the creation of the US-India Critical and Emerging Technologies Initiative, under which the leaders agreed to work together on developing defence technologies of primary interest.
In April, Indian Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin signed an agreement to share geo-location data through satellite systems.
Earlier this month, the two countries created a joint roadmap identifying five high-priority cooperation opportunities – air combat, ISR, logistics, undersea tactical situational awareness, and strike missiles.
Under this roadmap, the leaders agreed to work together to address political and industrial base issues of "mutual interest" and seek to make India a hub for the US supply chain in the Indo-Pacific region.
INDUS-X will establish an accelerator program for defence industry entrants and establish academia-industry partnerships.
Further, India and the US will "explore options" to co-finance the support of cutting-edge weaponised defence technology start-ups through public-private partnerships or by connecting the companies with venture capital firms and investors in India.
Angelos Chorianopoulos is a regular contributor to Future Warfare.
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