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India, Israel, US can carve out trilateral cooperation on defence technology

YB WEB DESK. Dated: 4/20/2021 12:27:22 PM

New Delhi, Apr 19 With technology becoming one of the main drivers of contemporary international relations, defining politics, security and economics, India, Israel and the US can carve out trilateral cooperation focusing on defence technology, says a paper by the Mumbai based think tank Gateway House. “Such potential collaboration will capitalise on the existing robust bilateral defence and security cooperation amongst the three countries. It also promises to give a technological edge to their militaries, develop interoperability and provide opportunities for exports," says the paper authored by Sameer Patil, Fellow, International Security Studies Programme at Gateway House. Patil says the challenges to the three countries, that have substantial bilateral cooperation among them, coming together include India’s military ties with Russia which run afoul of ties with the US and Israel’s defence ties with China. The paper titled “Inserting India into US-Israel Defence Technology Cooperation," argues that technology was shaping emerging potential alliances with UK prime minister Boris Johnson’s proposing a “D-10" ie a coalition of 10 democracies to create an alternative supply chain of 5G and other emerging technologies or the “T-12" proposed by two former US State Department officials to group together “techno-democracies" or those countries with top technology sectors, that are advanced economies with a commitment to liberal democracy. For the US, Israel was already a “principal military ally in West Asia." It was a “technologically advanced partner" in areas like defence, cybersecurity, renewable energy and food security. Israeli defence companies like Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) had an extensive engagement with US defence firms including the likes of Boeing and Lockheed Martin. “Silicon Valley majors such as IBM, Intel and Google have tapped into Tel Aviv’s start-up ecosystem for years," the paper said. In the case of India, New Delhi had emerged as a principal partner of the US in the Indo-Pacific besides offering a large market for American defence industry. The signing of the 2005 “Framework Agreement for Defence Cooperation", it renewal in 2015, the elevation of ties to a “comprehensive global strategic partnership," in 2020, all contributed to the growth in the India-US defence ties.