Pending defence sales figure in India-US talks

“The United States is very pleased with the successful integration of many US defence items into India’s inventory. And building on this progress, we hope we can complete several major pending US defence sales to India, expand our shared defence industrial cooperation and co-production efforts, strengthen interoperability ... between our forces, and then formally sign a new 10-year framework for the US-India Major Defence Partnership ... which we hope to do very soon,” Hegseth was quoted as saying by the Department of Defence.

At present, India is looking for the execution of two key defence projects with America. The first is the quick delivery of GE F404 fighter jet engines for India’s Tejas MK1A Light Combat Aircraft. In 2021, India’s Hindustan Aeronautics Limited ordered 99 F404 engines from General Electric.

So far, GE Aerospace has delivered only the first of 99 F404 engines to Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) for the Tejas Mk-1A fighters and is now ramping up production to fulfill the Indian order. These engines are designated for the 83 Mk-1A aircraft ordered by the Indian Air Force for ₹48,000 crore in February 2021.