New Delhi, Sept 11 (KNN) During the India-US bilateral meeting held on the side-lines of the G20 summit, the US showed its commitment to invest more in India’s maintenance, repair, and overhaul capabilities and facilities for aircraft.

The American government has also given nod to Modi’s government’s effort to convert India into maintenance repair and overhaul (MRO) hub for aerial platforms after stitching agreements with three Indian companies for mid-voyage repairs of US Navy.

During the bilateral meeting, the two leaders hailed advancements since the announcement of defence tie-ups in Washington on Congress clearing the GE F-414 jet engine co-production, conclusion of US Navy and Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders, Ltd repair agreement.

During the bilateral meeting in Washington, PM Modi and President Biden had agreed for Master Ship Repair Agreement (MSRA) between the two sides, given the satisfaction over mid-voyage repairs since its first vessel USNS Salvor underwent at Larsen & Tubro’s (L&T’s) Kattupalli shipyard near Chennai.

While, the US Navy agreement with L&T was signed during Modi’s visit, the one with Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders was done last month and, the last one with Goa Shipyards remains to be inked. “Both sides recommitted to advancing India’s emergence as a hub for the maintenance and repair of forward-deployed US Navy assets and other aircraft and vessels,” read the joint statement.

The India-US major defence partnership is also witnessing “expanded cooperation in new and emerging domains such as space and AI”, beside in defence industrial cooperation, per the joint statement issued by White House.

Both sides welcomed the announcement by the Indian Ministry of Defence’s Innovations for Defence Excellence and the US Department of Defence’s, Defence Innovation Unit to launch two joint challenges, which will invite start-ups to develop solutions to shared defence technology challenges.

They also commended the India-U.S. Defence Acceleration Ecosystem (INDUS-X) team for “establishing a robust collaboration agenda to harness the innovative work of the U.S. and Indian defence sectors to address shared security challenges.”  (KNN Bureau)