India, US Sign Key Defense & Tech Deals

Facts

• On Thursday, US Pres. Biden and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi signed a series of new business deals on the second day of Modi's maiden state visit to the US.¹
• The key announcements include an agreement that allows General Electric and Hindustan Aeronautics to jointly produce engines to power India's indigenous fighter jets and the sale of US-made armed MQ-9B SeaGuardian drones.²
• The landmark agreement bolstering defense cooperation is expected to transfer critical jet engine technologies — which the US rarely shares with non-allies — such as the F414 engine to India.³
• Additionally, US chip giant Micron Technology announced it would invest approximately $825M to build a semiconductor assembly and test facility in India, while Applied Materials said it would invest $400M to establish an engineering center in the South Asian nation.⁴
• India and the US also signed the Artemis Accords, which allow India's space agency to partner with NASA in sending a joint space mission in 2024.⁵
• India, the fifth-largest economy in the world, is a member of the US-backed "Quad" (consisting of India, Australia, Japan, and the US) as well as the Chinese-led BRICS (consisting of Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa). Trade between the US and India in 2022 rose to a record $191B.⁶

Sources: ¹Reuters, ²Guardian, ³Al Jazeera, ⁴BBC News, ⁵Mint, and ⁶FOX News.

Narratives

• Establishment-critical narrative, as provided by Spectator (UK). Biden had previously vowed that his foreign policy would be based on the defense of democratic values and human rights as the world, he claimed, was divided into democracies and autocracies. Therefore, granting Modi a rare state visit shows how hypocritical the Biden admin. is — revealing that it has struck a Faustian bargain with India's illiberal regime to counter China in the Indo-Pacific.
• Pro-establishment narrative, as provided by CNN. There's no evidence that the Modi government is not fond of human rights or Western democratic values, which is why it would be ill-advised for the Biden admin. to put acute concerns about democracy in India over efforts to preserve the international liberal order under threat from China and Russia. Given its geopolitical position, India is a promising and crucial ally to counter China that must not be scorned.

Predictions