Washington/New Delhi: U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and India’s Defense Minister Rajnath Singh held a telephonic conversation on February 6, 2025, reaffirming their shared commitment to strengthening the U.S.-India Defense Partnership.
In a statement, Department of Defense Spokesman John Ullyot said the call served as an introductory discussion to reinforce the U.S.-India Major Defense Partnership.
“The leaders agreed to pursue an ambitious agenda to accelerate our operational cooperation and defense industrial and technology collaboration to deter aggression in the Indo-Pacific. The Secretary noted he looks forward to holding the next 2+2 Ministerial Dialogue and concluding the next ten-year U.S.-India Defense Framework this year,” the statement added.
India’s Press Information Bureau also issued a statement, emphasizing that both officials “reviewed the extensive India-U.S. defense cooperation activities covering multiple domains in land, air, maritime and space. They appreciated the ongoing and remarkable expansion of the bilateral defense partnership and reaffirmed their commitment to deepen the ties.”
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The statement further detailed that Minister Singh and Secretary Hegseth agreed to collaborate on technology cooperation, integration of defense industrial supply chains, enhanced interoperability, logistics, information sharing, and joint military exercises.
“They also agreed to provide enhanced support to the growing defense innovation collaboration between the governments, start-ups, businesses and academic institutions,” added the statement. “India and US agreed to work together to draft a comprehensive framework on defense cooperation, aimed at structuring the bilateral collaboration for the period 2025-2035.”
