India’s Ministry of Defence has announced that it signed a Project Agreement (PA) with the United States (US) Department of Defence in July 2021, for co-development of Air-Launched Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (ALUAV), under the Joint Working Group Air Systems in the Defence Technology and Trade Initiative (DTTI).
Objective –The agreement was made in reference to the collaboration between two countries in defence technology through co-development of defence equipment and also aims on co-production and co-development of future technologies for Indian and US military forces.
Key Points:-
i.Under this PA, a prototype for ALUAV will be co-developed by US’s Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), Indian Air Force and Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).
ii.Aeronautical Development Establishment (ADE) at DRDO , the Aerospace Systems Directorate at the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), Indian and US Air Forces act as the principal organisations for executing the PA.
iii.The PA signed for ALUAV, is an initiative under the Research, Development, Testing and Evaluation (RDT&E) agreement signed between Indian and US in 2006, for co-development of Defence equipment.
Signatories – Air Vice Marshal Narmdeshwar Tiwari from Indian Air Force signed the agreement with Brigadier General Brian R. Bruckbauer from the US Air Force.
Note – As per Sipri report, around 49% of India’s arms is imported from Russia.
Recent Related News:
India with USD 72.9 Billion is the 3rd Highest Military Spender in 2020, as per the ‘Trends in World Military Expenditure, 2020’ report released by Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), USA with USD 778 Billion is the World’s largest Military spender.
About United States of America:
US Secretary of State – Antony Blinken
Capital – Washington DC
About Ministry of Defence:
Union Minister – Rajnath Singh (Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh)
Minister of State – Ajay Bhatt (Nainital-Udhamsingh Nagar, Uttarakhand)
Defence Secretary – Ajay Kumar
