India and the United States have agreed to sign a new 10-year defence partnership framework when Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and his US counterpart, Pete Hegseth, meet later this year, a Pentagon spokesperson has said.
This was decided in a phone conversation between Singh and Hegseth on Tuesday, senior US Defence spokesman Colonel Chris Devine said in a statement. Hegseth also met External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar at the Pentagon on Tuesday.
“On July 1, Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth spoke with India’s Minister of Defence Rajnath Singh. Secretary Hegseth emphasised the priority the US places on India as its key defence partner in South Asia… Secretary Hegseth and Minister Singh reviewed the considerable progress both countries have made toward achieving the defence goals set out in the February 2025 joint statement by President (Donald) Trump and Prime Minister (Narendra) Modi. The two discussed pending major US defence sales to India and the imperative of close defence industrial cooperation between the two countries,” Col Devine said.
“Secretary Hegseth and Minister Singh agreed to sign the next 10-year US-India defence framework when they next meet this year,” the spokesperson said. There is no timeline for this meeting so far.
On Hegseth’s meeting with Jaishankar, the spokesperson said the two sides discussed defence partnership and close cooperation embodied in the February 2025 joint statement.
“Noting mutual concern about the danger of aggression in the Asia-Pacific region, the two reviewed pending major defence sales, the forthcoming signing of the next 10-year defence framework, and progress on advanced technology policy reviews. Secretary Hegseth and Minister Jaishankar welcomed the next INDUS-X Summit, a bilateral defence tech forum, and the accompanying launch of the Autonomous Systems Industry Alliance (ASIA),” he said.
The US Department of Defence said Hegseth noted at the meeting that Trump and Modi had set a “strong foundation for our relationship, which we’re building on here today: productive, pragmatic and realistic”.
Saying that India and the US “boast a rich and growing history of cooperation driven by a shared commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific”, Hegseth said both sides are “mutually aware of the security concerns” in the region and “have the ability to counter that threat together”. He also mentioned US efforts to provide India with the “tools needed” to counter threats in the Indo-Pacific region.
“The US 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 said at the meeting.
Jaishankar said that while India has a strong relationship with the US, more can be done. “We believe that our defence partnership is today truly one of the most consequential pillars of the relationship. It’s not built merely on shared interests, but we believe in really deepening convergence… of capabilities, of responsibilities,” Jaishankar said. “And what we do in the Indo-Pacific, we believe, is absolutely crucial to its strategic stability.”
The two sides also discussed participation in the next India-US Defence Acceleration Ecosystem Summit, where they will continue to build on defence industrial cooperation and produce new innovations in technology and manufacturing, the US statement said.
“We’re eager to work alongside you to realise our shared goals… they’re deep and ongoing,” Hegseth said.
“The world is a complicated place, perhaps growing in its complexity, and certainly our partnership, and the contribution that we can make together would be of immense importance, not just for us, I think, but for the larger region — I would even argue, for the world,” Jaishankar said.
During their meeting in February, Modi and Trump had announced plans to pursue new procurements and co-production arrangements for Javelin anti-tank guided missiles and Stryker armored vehicles. They also discussed procurement of six additional P-8I maritime patrol aircraft.
