Lloyd Austin: New chapter in India-US military relations set to begin

Ajay Banerjee

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New Delhi, April 12

US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin has said that a new chapter in the US-India relations is set to begin under “our major defence partnership”.

Briefing the US Senate Armed Services Committee on his country’s budget, he said the militaries of the two countries were accelerating joint exercises, information-sharing, and other operational activities to boost maritime security in the Indian Ocean. “By bolstering the Indian military’s capabilities, the nations can work together to uphold a more stable balance of power across the wider Indo-Pacific,” Austin said. The Senate was briefed on April 9.

For a stable indo-pacific

By bolstering the Indian military’s capabilities, the nations can work together to uphold a more stable balance of power across the wider Indo-Pacific. —Lloyd Austin, US Secretary of defense

The US, he said, was committed to ensuring that the growing US-India partnership supported the efforts of the broader network of allies and partners, especially the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue among Australia, India, Japan, and the United States.

Austin described the relationship with India as part of his argument at the Senate seeking a defence budget of $849.8 billion for the US fiscal starting January 1, 2025.

Austin said the budget would continue to challenge the growing, multi-domain challenge posed by an increasingly aggressive China. Beijing, he said, was trying to shape the global system to suit its authoritarian preferences.

On the Indo-Pacific, he said, “We also seek a free, open, and prosperous Indo-Pacific region in which all countries are free from coercion.”

The US is making improvements to its force posture in the Indo-Pacific. Last year was the most transformative year for the US force posture in Asia. Austin described it

as “major infrastructure improvements in airfields, logistics, and domain awareness across the region”.

This is the second specific reference to the US-India military ties in the past four weeks. At the congressional hearing on the Indo-Pacific on March 20, Admiral John C Aquilino of the US Indo-Pacific Command had said that a strong US-India Comprehensive Global Strategic Partnership was essential to a free and open Indo-Pacific amidst China’s assertive moves in the region.