India and the United States signed a comprehensive new defense framework on Friday aimed at deepening their strategic partnership over the next decade. The development comes as both nations signal progress toward a potential trade deal to ease ongoing tariff disputes.
The agreement was formalized on the sidelines of the ASEAN-Plus defense ministers’ meeting in Kuala Lumpur, where Indian Defense Minister Rajnath Singh and U.S. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth signed the 10-year bilateral defense cooperation framework.
The 2025 framework aims to advance the defense partnership by establishing ‘a unified vision and policy direction’ for collaboration across all areas, including defense industry cooperation, military interoperability on land, air, sea, space, and cyber domains, as well as maritime domain awareness, over the coming decade.
Rajnath Singh stated that the framework will provide policy direction across the full spectrum of the India-U.S. defense relationship. “It is a signal of our growing strategic convergence and will herald a new decade of partnership,” he wrote on X, emphasizing that defense will continue to be a key pillar in the bilateral ties.
The alliance is crucial for maintaining a free, open, and rules-based Indo-Pacific, underscoring efforts to counter China’s increasingly assertive actions in the region, Singh added.
Hegseth stated that the decade-long framework strengthens the India-U.S. defense partnership, describing it as a “cornerstone for regional stability and deterrence.” He added, “We are enhancing our coordination, info sharing, and tech cooperation. Our defense ties have never been stronger.”
The foundation for bilateral defense collaboration was laid out in the Joint U.S.-India Declaration on Defense Cooperation in September 2013 and further reinforced by the 2015 Framework for the U.S.-India Defense Relationship. These agreements marked a mutual commitment to expanding cooperation across the sector.
Since 2008, India has spent over $20 billion on defense purchases from the U.S. In February, Trump criticized India’s $50 billion trade surplus with the U.S. and stated that America would boost military sales to India ‘by many billions of dollars’ and create a pathway for supplying F-35 stealth fighters. A subsequent joint statement then confirmed that the U.S. would provide India with Javelin anti-tank missiles and Stryker infantry combat vehicles this year.
Additionally, the U.S. is expected to finalize the sale of six more P-8I maritime patrol aircraft.
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