NEW DELHI: India and the US have set up the India-United States Defence Acceleration Ecosystem (INDUS-X) with the goal of fostering a partnership in the field of defence innovation.

The strategic technology alliance and industrial defence cooperation between governments, enterprises, and academic institutions will grow, according to experts from the two countries.

The INDUS X was introduced on Thursday during a ceremony in Washington, DC, said the Ministry of Defence. Innovations for Defence Excellence (iDEX), the Ministry of Defence, and the US Department of Defence (DoD) jointly coordinated the event, which was hosted by the US-India Business Council (USIBC).

A Senior Advisor Group (SAG) will evaluate the partnership agenda's progress and offer suggestions for future work to the defence establishments and other INDUS-X stakeholders.

The MoD's Joint Secretary for Defence Industries Promotion, Anurag Bajpai, served as the representative for India at the INDUS X event. On June 20, a reception was hosted for officials of the Indian and US governments, defence startups, think tanks, incubators, investors, industries, and other stakeholders. The keynote speech was delivered by US Ambassador to India Eric Garcetti.

The US Secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendall said, relations between the US and India are expanding dramatically. He stressed the significant opportunity for deep-tech collaboration between entrepreneurs in both countries, particularly in the fields of space and artificial intelligence (AI).

In his speech on "Investing in the Future of US-Indian Defence Relations," Bajpai lauded the launch of iCET as a watershed moment in the partnership between India and the US. As the leaders of the two biggest and oldest democracies in the world gather in Washington, he claimed that this was an ideal time for this event.

The Joint Secretary emphasised the need of Indian and US entrepreneurs to work together to develop and produce cutting-edge technologies. He also urged the attendees to devise plans for future industry, academic, and investor engagement. Aatmanirbhar Bharat and the notion of "Make in India, for the world" were highlighted in the Joint Secretary's assessment of the Make in India project.

A first-of-its-kind joint exhibition of state-of-art technologies from Indian and US entrepreneurs was also held during the event. 15 entrepreneurs from India and 10 from the US presented their technologies to Indian and US stakeholders in the fields of space, AI, maritime, and autonomous systems.

Senior US officials, including Congressman Ro Khanna, who sits on the House Armed Services Committee and serves as co-chair of the Congressional Caucus on India and Indian Americans, as well as Radha Iyengar Plumb, the US Department of Defense's deputy under secretary of defence for acquisition and sustainment, visited the exhibition.

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