Indo- US Technology Partnerships

[sorcerer]

America's unmanned aerial vehicle 'Raven' will be made in India

India and the US are set to announce joint manufacturing of the Raven unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) in Bengaluru from later this year, giving New Delhi a slice of the $3 billion order book for the world's most advanced hand-launched drone.

Under the terms of the deal, to be unveiled during President Barack Obama's visit to Delhi starting Sunday, the Americans will end production of the 10-km range UAV at a US site and move production to a Bengaluru-based joint venture, which will become global supplier.
Seven countries have lined up to buy the UAV, currently built by US firm AeroVironment, with pending orders totalling $3 billion, a senior government official said. "Not only will the Indian company supply the remaining orders but jointly develop a 18-km extended range UAV with flying endurance increased from four to six hours," he said.

The all-weather, all-terrain, battery-operated UAV is used to make the battlefield more "transparent" and to target enemy armoured columns and personnel. The other technology cleared for transfer to India is the "roll-on, roll-off" intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance module for the Lockheed Martin-manufactured C-130 J transport aircraft to India.

This module converts the transport aircraft into a sophisticated long-range spy machine. The plane has the ability to land on unprepared short air strips, including paddy fields and has proven its worth as an air ambulance and in special forces operations. India has bought a dozen C-130 J "Hercules" aircraft over the past six years. The transfer of two technologies is expected to feature in the joint statement at the end of Obama's visit.

According to US diplomatic sources, visiting US under-secretary of defence for acquisition, technology and logistics Frank Kendall reached closure on the two deals during his talks with national security advisor Ajit Doval, principal secretary Nripendra Misra and secretary (defence production) Mohan Kumar. With President Obama and defence secretary Ashton Carter directing Kendall that India was to be given transformative defence technologies as it was a close strategic partner and ally, the two sides have also identified other defence technologies to be jointly developed and co-produced.

More technologies will be cleared during Kendall's next visit to India on February 23. That the Americans are keen to partner India is evident from the fact that Kendall has set up a special group under India desk head Duncan Lang to fast-track technology transfer and licensing.

http://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/us-raven-drones-will-be-made-in-india/article1-1310131.aspx

 

[sorcerer]

US company proposes artillery gun firm in India

Keeping in tune with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's "Make in India" camp-aign, US arms major BAE Systems has proposed to set up an artillery gun manufacturing unit in India for supplying 145 M777 ultra light weight howitzers to the Indian Army.

Once Indian demands are met, the same manufacturing and testing facility could be used by the foreign firm to feed its existing global customers, including the US, Canada and Australia, as well as prospective ones from South American, Middle Eastern and European armed forces.

"We have already signed a MoU with around 40 Indian companies after assessing their capabilities to support our offset offer and perform assembly, integration and test of the M777. Nearly half of these are micro, small and medium enterprises," John Kelly, vice-president, business development and strategic planning, BAE Systems, told Deccan Herald.

Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar had earlier stated that the central government would look at manufacturing proposals from foreign vendors if the equipment makers involved a large number of Indian small and medium-sized business units. The arms export norms are also being revised.

The ultra light howitzer deal was under the works for several years after successful trials of these guns in the mountains. The Army was planning to utilise the M777 guns for high-altitude warfare in the North-East as well as in Jammu and Kashmir. Compared to the weight of other artillery guns, it is lighter.

Its costing, however, was the bone of contention. In March, 2013, the US government gave an offer and acceptance letter for the same deal at $694 million as the deal was to be done through the foreign military sales route. There was also a proposal on 30 per cent offset for the deal. The US firm, sources said, was now ready to offer the M777 guns at a price, which is 6-8 per cent of the cost it quoted in 2013.

The 2013 proposal did not materialise because the deal expired for want of a response from the Defence Ministry in time. It happened because the US Congress approval had an expiry date. The US government had subsequently taken an approval from the Congress to offer the M-777 deal to India at a ceiling price of $885 million, an increase of 27 per cent.

"The case for procurement of ULH guns through US government has not progressed due to cost issues and because the vendor has not been able to come up with a proposal fully compliant with the offset requirements," former defence minister Arun Jaitley informed the Lok Sabha in July.

US company proposes artillery gun firm in India

 

[sorcerer]

Snippets From the MEA


The signing of the MoU on 18 November 2014 between Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency Ltd. and the Export-Import Bank of the United States, which would make available up to $1 billion in financing to facilitate expanded cooperation and enhance U.S. private sector investment in Indian clean energy projects.


Continuing bilateral engagement on the Defence Technology and Trade Initiative (DTTI), including the 22 January 2015 agreement in principle to pursue co-production and co-development of four pathfinder projects, form a working group to explore aircraft carrier technology sharing and design, and explore possible cooperation on development of jet engine technology.

Defence and Homeland Security Cooperation

Prime Minister Modi and President Obama welcomed the efforts made by both sides to expand bilateral defence cooperation in areas of mutual interest and reaffirmed their commitment to continue to work towards deepening the bilateral defence relationship. The Leaders acknowledged bilateral military ties as the foundation of the defense relationship and encouraged their respective militaries to pursue additional opportunities for engagement through exercises, military personnel exchanges, and defense dialogues.

The Leaders also acknowledged the need for the two-way defence engagement to include technology cooperation and collaboration, co-production and co-development. To this end, the President and the Prime Minister emphasized the ongoing importance of the Defence Technology and Trade Initiative (DTTI) in developing new areas of technology cooperation in the defence sector including through co-development and co-production and the Prime Minister welcomed the U.S. Defense Department's establishment of a dedicated rapid reaction team focused exclusively on advancing DTTI. The Leaders expressed confidence that continued DTTI collaboration will yield additional joint projects in the near future.

The President also welcomed the Prime Minister's initiatives to liberalize the Foreign Direct Investment Policy regime in the defence sector and the Leaders agreed to cooperate on India's efforts to establish a defence industrial base in India, including through initiatives like 'Make in India.'

Prime Minister Modi and President Obama expressed satisfaction over the efforts made by both countries to deepen cooperation in the field of maritime security, as reflected in the 2015 Framework for the U.S.-India Defense Relationship. To this end, they agreed that the navies of both sides would continue discussions to identify specific areas for expanding maritime cooperation. They also reiterated their commitment to upgrading their bilateral naval exercise MALABAR.

The two sides also noted the growing cooperation between their law enforcement agencies, particularly in the areas of extradition and mutual legal assistance, to counter transnational criminal threats such as terrorism, narcotics, trafficking, financial and economic fraud, cybercrime, and transnational organized crime and pledged to enhance such cooperation further. The President and the Prime Minister also noted the serious risks to national and economic security from malicious cyber activity and agreed to cooperate on enhancing operational sharing of cyber threat information, examining how international law applies in cyberspace, and working together to build agreement on norms of responsible state behavior.

The Leaders committed to undertake efforts to make the U.S.-India partnership a defining counterterrorism relationship for the 21st Century by deepening collaboration to combat the full spectrum of terrorist threats and keep their respective homelands and citizens safe from attacks. The Leaders reiterated their strong condemnation of terrorism in all its forms and manifestations with 'zero tolerance' and reaffirmed their deep concern over the continued threat posed by transnational terrorism including by groups like Al Qaida and the ISIL, and called for eliminating terrorist safe havens and infrastructure, disrupting terrorist networks and their financing, and stopping cross-border movement of terrorists.

The Leaders reaffirmed the need for joint and concerted efforts to disrupt entities such as Lashkar-e-Tayyiba, Jaish-e-Mohammad, D Company and the Haqqani Network, and agreed to continue ongoing efforts through the Homeland Security Dialogue as well as the next round of the U.S.-India Joint Working Group on Counter Terrorism in late 2015 to develop actionable elements of bilateral engagement. The two sides noted the recent U.S. sanctions against three D Company affiliates. The President and the Prime Minister further agreed to continue to work toward an agreement to share information on known and suspected terrorists. They also agreed to enter discussions to deepen collaboration on UN terrorist designations, and reiterated their call for Pakistan to bring the perpetrators of the November 2008 terrorist attack in Mumbai to justice.

The President and the Prime Minister also noted the positive cooperative engagement between the Indian and the U.S. authorities with a view to working together to counter the threat of IEDs and to develop counterterrorism best practices.

Energy and Climate Change

Noting that the Contact Group set up in September 2014 to advance implementation of bilateral civil nuclear cooperation has met three times in December and January, the Leaders welcomed the understandings reached on the issues of civil nuclear liability and administrative arrangements for civil nuclear cooperation, and looked forward to U.S.-built nuclear reactors contributing to India's energy security at the earliest.

Clean Energy Goal and Cooperation

President Obama and Prime Minister Modi emphasized the critical importance of expanding clean energy research, development, manufacturing and deployment, which increases energy access and reduces greenhouse gas emissions. The leaders announced actions to advance India's transition to low carbon economy. India intends to increase the share of use of renewable in electricity generation consistent with its intended goal to increase India's solar target to 100 gigawatts by 2022. The United States intends to support India's goal by enhancing cooperation on clean energy and climate change, to include:

i. Expanding Partnership to Advance Clean Energy Research (PACE-R): A renewed commitment to PACE-R, including extending funding for three existing research tracks of solar energy, building energy efficiency, and biofuels for an additional five years and launching a new track on smart grid and grid storage.

ii. Expanding Partnership to Advance Clean Energy Deployment (PACE-D): Both the countries intended to expand our current Partnership to Advance Clean Energy Deployment (PACE-D) through increased bilateral engagements and further joint initiatives to expand cooperation in support of India's ambitious targets in renewable energy.

iii. Accelerating Clean Energy Finance: Prime Minister Modi emphasized India's ongoing efforts to create a market environment that will promote trade and investment in this sector. President Obama welcomed India's ambitious solar energy goals and encouraged India to continue its efforts to increase trade and private investment in this sector. President Obama conveyed the potential availability of U.S. Government official financing in this area, consistent with its policies, to support private sector involvement for those entities in contributing to India's clean energy requirements.

iv. Launching Air Quality Cooperation: Implementing EPA's AIR Now-International Program and megacities partnerships, focused on disseminating information to help the urban dwellers to reduce their exposure to harmful levels of air pollution, and enable urban policy planners to implement corrective strategies for improving Ambient Air Quality in the cities keeping in view health and climate change co-benefits of these strategies.

v. Initiating Climate Resilience Tool Development: Jointly undertaking a partnership on climate resilience that will work to downscale international climate models for the Indian sub-continent to much higher resolution than currently available, assess climate risks at the sub-national level, work with local technical institutes on capacity building, and engage local decision-makers in the process of addressing climate information needs and informing planning and climate resilient sustainable development, including for India's State Action Plans.

vi. Demonstrating Clean Energy and Climate Initiatives on the Ground: Additional pilot programs and other collaborative projects in the areas of space cooling, super-efficient appliances, renewable energy storage, and smart grids.

vii. Concluding MOU on Energy Security, Clean Energy and Climate Change: Both countries concluded negotiations on a five year MOU to carry this work forward, to be signed as early as possible at a mutually agreed upon date.

http://www.mea.gov.in/bilateral-doc...f_USA_to_India_Shared_Effort_Progress_for_All

 

[sorcerer]

Duplicate post- purged!

 

[arnabmit]

But why? When DRDO Indian Eagle (previously Imperial Eagle) is already there?

Tarmak007 -- A bold blog on Indian defence: Video of MAV Imperial Eagle (Indian Eagle) in operation

Wing span : 1600mm
Length : 1200 mm
All up weight : 2.3 kg
Range : 10 km
Endurance : 60 minutes
Speed : 40-90 km/hr
Altitude : 30-300 m AGL
Ceiling : 14,000 ft from MSL
Propulsion : BLDC Motor
Launch : Hand-launched
Recovery : Soft belly landing
Navigation : Fully autonomous

America's unmanned aerial vehicle 'Raven' will be made in India

India and the US are set to announce joint manufacturing of the Raven unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) in Bengaluru from later this year, giving New Delhi a slice of the $3 billion order book for the world's most advanced hand-launched drone.

Under the terms of the deal, to be unveiled during President Barack Obama's visit to Delhi starting Sunday, the Americans will end production of the 10-km range UAV at a US site and move production to a Bengaluru-based joint venture, which will become global supplier.
Seven countries have lined up to buy the UAV, currently built by US firm AeroVironment, with pending orders totalling $3 billion, a senior government official said. "Not only will the Indian company supply the remaining orders but jointly develop a 18-km extended range UAV with flying endurance increased from four to six hours," he said.

The all-weather, all-terrain, battery-operated UAV is used to make the battlefield more "transparent" and to target enemy armoured columns and personnel. The other technology cleared for transfer to India is the "roll-on, roll-off" intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance module for the Lockheed Martin-manufactured C-130 J transport aircraft to India.

This module converts the transport aircraft into a sophisticated long-range spy machine. The plane has the ability to land on unprepared short air strips, including paddy fields and has proven its worth as an air ambulance and in special forces operations. India has bought a dozen C-130 J "Hercules" aircraft over the past six years. The transfer of two technologies is expected to feature in the joint statement at the end of Obama's visit.

According to US diplomatic sources, visiting US under-secretary of defence for acquisition, technology and logistics Frank Kendall reached closure on the two deals during his talks with national security advisor Ajit Doval, principal secretary Nripendra Misra and secretary (defence production) Mohan Kumar. With President Obama and defence secretary Ashton Carter directing Kendall that India was to be given transformative defence technologies as it was a close strategic partner and ally, the two sides have also identified other defence technologies to be jointly developed and co-produced.

More technologies will be cleared during Kendall's next visit to India on February 23. That the Americans are keen to partner India is evident from the fact that Kendall has set up a special group under India desk head Duncan Lang to fast-track technology transfer and licensing.

 

[sorcerer]

But why? When DRDO Indian Eagle (previously Imperial Eagle) is already there?

Tarmak007 -- A bold blog on Indian defence: Video of MAV Imperial Eagle (Indian Eagle) in operation

Wing span : 1600mm
Length : 1200 mm
All up weight : 2.3 kg
Range : 10 km
Endurance : 60 minutes
Speed : 40-90 km/hr
Altitude : 30-300 m AGL
Ceiling : 14,000 ft from MSL
Propulsion : BLDC Motor
Launch : Hand-launched
Recovery : Soft belly landing
Navigation : Fully autonomous

India is an excellent manufacturing hub with human resources and technology know how. C'mon..it must be that most of these tech innovations in US will have an Indian brain working in USA.

Facts apart..Realistically India can provide

Skill + Technology+ ethics + rules of conduct + Improvable infrastructure (Which might be shared for Indian innovations too)+ economic labour.

I think it has to do more with the privitaztion of defense sector under the Make in India program. Such move will make the innovations competitive(Indian as well as foreign)..productions economical and push up the Indian dreams of being an arms exporter (Read: Corporatising World Peace).

Such moves will make the DRDO work their arse off rto excellence and not sleep on it.(The guys are doing a pretty awesome job..but still we need to avoid beurocracy and make the dept more professional that can compete with world order.( Pun intended).

India is also a fastes developing economy with a very stable democracy and time tested constitution....very investable...

 

[sorcerer]

Old News..But tells about the US intentions


We want to replicate Russian model of defence coop: US

NEW DELHI: Seeking to boost defence ties with India, the US today said it wishes to replicate the Russian model of cooperation under which military hardware is developed jointly.

"Yes, that is exactly the same kind of thing where two industry teams are involved in whole product life cycle where the product is both co-produced and developed. That is a new way for the US and India. We do not have the history that Russia does. We are trying to replicate that...," US Deputy Secretary of Defence Ashton Carter said here.

He was asked if the joint venture proposals in defence production offered to India by the US were on the lines of the successful Indo-Russian BrahMos Aerospace company, which produces the world's only supersonic cruise missile.

Seventy per cent of India's military hardware is of Russian origin but American companies have also made inroads by selling equipment worth over USD 10 billion to India in the last decade.

Carter said that for over several decades, Indian and American defence systems and bureaucracies were segregated and therefore, there was a need to overcome these issues.

He said during meetings with Indian officials, the US has offered several joint venture and co-development military hardware projects such as the Javelin anti-tank guided missile, equipment for aircraft carriers, transport aircraft and battlefield systems.

He said the proposals are under consideration of the Indian government and some of them such as the Javelin missile would enable India to co-produce and co-develop it and also export it.

Asked if the US was ignoring the frameworks of fundamental defence agreements such as CISMOA, BECA and LSA for doing business with India, Carter said, "We are not ignoring them but we are working around so that they do not become obstacles.

"Obviously, we would like these to be concluded but we needed to get on with the work. We are trying to succeed in doing practical things together even though India has not shown keenness to sign these agreements," he said.

Basic Exchange and Cooperation Agreement for Geo-spatial Cooperation (BECA), Logistics Support Agreement (LSA) and Communications Interoperability and Security Memorandum of Agreement (CISMOA) are the US arrangements for enhancing defence ties with other countries.

We want to replicate Russian model of defence coop: US - Economic Times

===

If INdia can make a favorable agreement (CISMOA, BECA and LSA) which supports Indian interests then this arrangement will tremendously boost Indian capabilities.

 

[roma]

Old News..But tells about the US intentions
We want to replicate Russian model of defence coop: US

We want to replicate Russian model of defence coop: US - Economic Times

===

If INdia can make a favorable agreement (CISMOA, BECA and LSA) which supports Indian interests then this arrangement will tremendously boost Indian capabilities.

Sorcy, i looked at the article and it says september 2013 , which in defence terms is not too far back
i think we need ask these americans if they really meant it and we need to see it in action
although i must say it seems to be happening and especially today with Obama's clearing the nuke deal

what the soviets di for us in the 1965-80's in defence co-op was just short of phenomenal
they sold us the hardware and equally important gave us the image that rendered ccp-china "stuck"
we had pretty much a free hand and also ref b'defsh we had a free hand

we need to politely educate these americans and gauge if they know about how soviets helped
us and are they really talking about that ?

nevertheless, what i do see so far is very encouraging

on the other side of the coin - we also need to go to the russians ( no longer soviets )
and tell them about the usa being serious - so stop playing games with us about
PAKFA ( Su 50 ) and other hi-tech developments - otherwise
we will have to cut and switch.

 

[sorcerer]

Sorcy, i looked at the article and it says september 2013 , which in defence terms is not too far back
i think we need ask these americans if they really meant it and we need to see it in action
although i must say it seems to be happening and especially today with Obama's clearing the nuke deal
.

The way I see it, the proposal from the side of US is progressive when we look at the aspects of it from 2013 to 2015 with clearly defined objectives. The Make in India program made the business proposals more viable for countries, here the US.

India should be the destination for companies that is looking to manufacture cutting edge technology products.
So far..so good!