Bengaluru to source defence technology

Bengaluru and Hyderabad may soon turn into key sources of cutting edge technology for United States military hardware industry, as India and America are all set to take the bilateral defence relations beyond the buyer-seller ties.

“No example better illustrates the new course of our collaborative relationship than the decision by the US and Indian defence establishments and private sectors to pursue co-development and coproduction of defence articles. This is the type of defence collaboration we have with our closest partners. The US defence industry will now make Bengaluru and Hyderabad important sources for cutting edge technology,” America’s Ambassador to India Richard Verma said on Thursday.   

Verma, who took over as America’s ambassador to India early in January, was speaking on US-India relations at the Vivekananda International Foundation on Thursday.

Obama’s meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi saw New Delhi and Washington identifying four projects to be taken up under the Defence Technology and Trade Initiative for co-development and co-production of next generation Raven Minis UAVs, roll-on and roll-off kits for C-130s, mobile electric hybrid power source and Uniform Integrated Protection Ensemble Increment II.