US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin will pay a two-day visit to India beginning Sunday to discuss ways to further expand bilateral strategic engagement ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s trip to Washington.
People familiar with Austin’s visit said he and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh are set to discuss a number of new defence cooperation projects that are set to be unveiled after Modi’s talks with President Joe Biden in Washington over two weeks later.
The General Electric’s proposal to share technology with India for fighter jet engines and India’s plan to procure 30 MQ-9B armed drones at a cost of over USD 3 billion from US defence major General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc (GA-ASI) are likely to figure in the Singh-Austin talks on Monday.