U.S. And India To Co-Produce Armoured Vehicles To Counter China

A U.S. Army Stryker battle tank during the Finnish Army Arrow 22 training exercise, with participating forces from the U.K., Latvia, U.S. and Estonia, in Niinisalo, Finland, on Wednesday, May 4, 2022. Swedes and Finns are increasingly in favor of joining the NATO defense bloc after Russia's invasion of Ukraine, adding pressure on the countries' leaders to change long-standing policies of military non-alignment.

(Bloomberg) --

The US and India will co-produce Stryker armored vehicles, as the two countries push to counter China's rising military might in Asia.

The announcement, made by a senior US defense official, came during the annual 2+2 ministerial consultations being held between the countries' foreign and defense ministers in New Delhi. Joint development and production of defense equipment especially “ground mobility systems” was prominently mentioned in the joint statement issued after the meeting in New Delhi. The two countries will pursue more such projects in “priority areas,” it said.

The initiative “will strengthen the shared security of our countries by diversifying supply chains and supporting interoperability between our militaries,” US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said Friday in Indian capital.

The vehicles will help India push back against China along their disputed border, while also reducing New Delhi's long-term dependence on Russian weapons. The announcement comes as part of a multi-year effort to strengthen US-India ties through intelligence sharing, technology transfer and bolstered diplomatic ties. It also helps Prime Minister Narendra Modi's bid to expand India's industrial base.

An Indian official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the majority of the vehicles will be deployed along India's border with China, where tensions have remained high after a clash in 2020 that killed soldiers on both sides. Some of the vehicles will also be deployed along India's border with Pakistan.

New Delhi is seeking thousands of co-produced vehicles, most of which will be armed with anti-tank missile systems. The rest will be used for battlefield surveillance or as command vehicles, the official said.

The Stryker, a wheeled combat vehicle produced by General Dynamics Land Systems Inc., is prized by the US Army for its versatility. There are more than two dozen variants, which serve as infantry carriers, reconnaissance platforms, medical and engineering support, among other missions.

The US Army, in recent years, has added a 30mm cannon to the vehicle and worked to integrate directed energy weapons on the Strykers for short-range air defense.

The Biden administration has sent Strykers to Ukraine to aid its defense against Russia, in addition to Bradley fighting vehicles and Abrams tanks.

The US-India partnership has “never been closer,” Eric Garcetti, the US Ambassador to India, told Bloomberg News Friday. “We think this growing partnership can be a force for good as well as a powerful deterrent to bad action.”

In June, during a state visit by Modi to Washington, the two countries pledged to deepen defense-industry ties, including technologies for intelligence, reconnaissance and surveillance, as well as aircraft engines and munitions. As part of that push, the countries are working to streamline regulations, licensing and export controls, and to deepen ties between defense companies.

The US and India also plan to conduct more joint exercises across combatant commands and regions, according to a senior US defense official.

(Adds more detail from joint statement in second paragraph.)

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