India, US sign statement of intent on defence tech cooperation during Defence Technology and Trade Initiative virtual meeting

India and the United States have signed a statement of intent to strengthen the dialogue on defence technology cooperation during the 10th Defence Technology and Trade Initiative (DTTI) virtual group meeting on September 15, 2020.

The statement also talks about creating opportunities for co-production and co-development of military equipment. It was signed by Ellen Lord, US Under Secretary of Defence for Acquisition and Sustainment, and Raj Kumar, Secretary, Defence Production, Ministry of Defence.

Raj Kumar and Ellen Lord co-chaired the virtual meeting, during which the groups reported them the ongoing activities and collaborative opportunities, which also includes a number of near-term projects targeted for completion.

Objective of DTTI Group:

The Defence Technology and Trade Initiative (DTTI) group aims to bring the sustained leadership focus to the bilateral defence trade relationship and also to create opportunities for the co-development and co-production of the defence equipment.

The four joint working groups focused on air and aircraft carrier naval, land, technologies that have been established under Defence Technology and Trade Initiative. The technologies have been established to promote mutually agreed projects.

Key Highlights

• The co-chairs during the virtual meet noted that since the last DTTI Group Meeting which was in October 2019, a DTTI Standard Operating Procedure for the development and identification of cooperative projects under DTTI has been completed.

• The SOP has also been serving as the framework for DTTI and allows both sides to reach and document a mutual understanding of how to define success.

• The publicly releasable extracts of the key elements of the Statement of Procedure have also been published in July as the DTTI initial guidance for industry and distributed through the US and Indian industry association.

About DTTI:

The Defence Technology and Trade Initiative (DTTI) Group Meetings are normally conducted twice every year, alternating between the United States and India. However, this year amid the ongoing Coronavirus pandemic, the authorities had decided to conduct the meeting virtually.