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Rewind and Reconnoiter: Helping India Replace Russia in the Value Arms Market

February 22, 2024
Rewind and Reconnoiter: Helping India Replace Russia in the Value Arms Market
Rewind and Reconnoiter: Helping India Replace Russia in the Value Arms Market

Rewind and Reconnoiter: Helping India Replace Russia in the Value Arms Market

Vasabjit Banerjee and Benjamin Tkach
February 22, 2024
Welcome to Rewind & Reconnoiter. Each week, we’ll ask one of our authors to look back at an article they’ve written for War on the Rocks in light of a current news event. Did their argument hold up? Read more below to find out.***In 2022, Vasabjit Banerjee and Benjamin Tkach wrote “Helping India Replace Russia in the Value Arms Market” for War on the Rocks, in which they argued that the United States should support India in filling the void left by Russia in the value arms market following its invasion of Ukraine. Nearly two years on, we asked them to reflect on their piece and whether their recommendations have been taken up.Read more below.The Tata Kestrel/WhAp in 2018. Image by Gokul Kannan.In your article, written in 2022, you argue that “U.S.-Indian collaboration can help the Indian industrial complex to produce weapons that India will use, and that value market customers will purchase” and that “Washington should fast-track export control approval for Indian collaboration, actually utilize India’s Major Defense Partner status to export dual-use technology, establish shared industrial heritage by moving legacy production lines to India, and assist India’s development of transparent acquisition and procurement processes.” Has this collaboration developed at all since you wrote this piece? How have things changed, if at all?The legal framework has been strengthened via the U.S.-India initiative on Critical and Emerging Technology signed in 2022. This was further strengthened in 2023 by the India-U.S. Defense Acceleration Ecosystem, which facilitates collaboration between both countries’ governments, businesses, and academic institutions. In 2023, India agreed to procure the F414-GE-INS6 jet engine — first designed for the F-18 — to power the updated version of its indigenous single-engine fighter HAL Tejas Mk. 2. Both countries have signed a second master ship repair agreement for sustaining U.S. Navy assets, which

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Welcome to Rewind & Reconnoiter. Each week, we’ll ask one of our authors to look back at an article they’ve written for War on the Rocks in light of a current news event. Did their argument hold up? Read more below to find out.***In 2022, Vasabjit Banerjee and Benjamin Tkach wrote “Helping India Replace Russia in the Value Arms Market” for War on the Rocks, in which they argued that the United States should support India in filling the void left by Russia in the value arms market following its invasion of Ukraine. Nearly two years on, we asked them to

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