India’s push for indigenisation across sectors including defence and aerospace has facilitated a productive global partnership, Rear Admiral Michael L Baker, Defence Attache, US Embassy, New Delhi, said on Sunday.
"Make in India is an opportunity. We don’t view this as an obstacle to the partnership. It is the natural evolution of the partnership,” he told DH while responding to a question on how global collaborations in manufacturing align with India’s vision of self-reliance.
The US is already making in India and the partnership is at a point where India is considering the next step which involves a scaled-up transfer of technology.
"That does have some difficulty because you’ll have to find areas where your interests overlap from a geostrategic standpoint, where your interests overlap from a commercial and economic standpoint. You find those pieces that you can work on, you go ahead and work through all the technical details to take that step. I think that it will be incremental,” he said.
The senior defence official is in Bengaluru as part of the US delegation at Aero India 2023 which opens at the Indian Air Force Station at Yelahanka on Monday.
Rear Admiral Baker said the know-how transferred under the scope of the partnership – like with the AH-64 Apache attack helicopters or the C 130 fuselage – is also a form of investment that supplements India’s capabilities for the future.
“Some of the things we are going to offer the government this week is co-production that involves some more advanced manufacturing capabilities that might not exist in India, yet,” he said.