India, US to discuss jet engine technology

Ajay Banerjee

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, August 28

Apart from expected inking of the India-US agreement on sharing “military logistics”, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar shall discuss jet-engine technology development with the US during his three-day (August 29-31) visit commencing tomorrow.

The Jet Engine Technology Joint Working Group (JETJWG) comprising officials of the two countries has already concluded its terms of reference for cooperation in this area. The matter will be discussed when Parrikar meets his US counterpart Ashton Carter in the US.

The Indian side is hopeful that a formal agreement on logistics exchange memorandum of agreement (LEMOA) will be signed. In April, the two countries had announced in New Delhi the decision to conclude LEMOA. LEMOA is the new name for the Logistics Support Agreement (LSA), which the two countries have been discussing for over a decade.

What has been okayed is a re-jigged version of the LSA, a cast-in-iron framework, which the US was keen on getting India to sign. India asked the US to make it India-specific and not the standard LSA draft, which the US has with its allies like the UK.

New Delhi reserves the discretion to withdraw in case it feels the US had gone to war with a country that India sees as a friend.

The two countries have agreed upon the text for the agreement and this will, however, not entail “positioning of the US troops on Indian soil”. LEMOA will cover four aspects — training, exercises, port calls and the humanitarian assistance. It will be facilitator as earlier matters of refuelling and repair were considered on case-to-case basis.

In case of jet-engine technology, the US told India in December last year that it had changed its policy on gas turbine engine technology transfer, allowing technology to be shared with Indian companies.

The move, if it comes through, will change the way India makes engines for its warships and fighter jets. Gas turbine engines are largely used in big warships for the Navy and have a big market.

Forty-seven naval ships are under construction and each needs at least two such engines — costing millions of dollars.