New Delhi: India and the US are now in an “advanced stage of talks” for the proposed joint manufacture of the latest generation of Stryker armoured infantry combat vehicles (ICVs) as part of their defence-industrial cooperation roadmap.
With the US also recently offering to demonstrate the mobility and firepower of the eight-wheeled Stryker in high-altitude areas in India, the defence ministry is examining a three-phase plan for the proposed project, sources told TOI.Under the plan, there will be a limited off-the-shelf purchase of the Strykers under the foreign military sales (FMS) programme of the US, which will be followed by joint production in India, and finally there will be co-development of its futuristic versions, sources said.
All this, however, is contingent on the Stryker meeting the operational requirements of the Army’s mechanised infantry battalions as well as a high level of indigenisation and transfer of critical technologies to the Indian co-production partner, which could be a defence PSU or a private firm.
“If the Stryker project is finalised, the existing Indian capabilities in ICVs will be taken into account. Strykers will have to be customised and technologically configured for Indian terrain, including operations in high-altitude areas like eastern Ladakh and Sikkim,” a source said.
With the Army having a huge requirement of futuristic wheeled and tracked ICVs to progressively replace its existing fleet of over 2,000 Russian-origin BMP-II vehicles in the years ahead, MoD is also pursuing indigenous projects. “ Army also needs ICVs capable of amphibious operations in large numbers as well. Strykers are not amphibious,” another source said.
The US is hard-selling the Strykers. Ahead of US national security advisor Jake Sullivan’s visit to India, secretary of defence Lloyd J Austin cited the “co-production of armoured vehicles with India” as yet another indicator of the upward trajectory in the bilateral defence partnership during the Shangri La dialogue in Singapore two weeks ago. The US, incidentally, has bagged lucrative Indian defence deals worth around $22 billion since 2007. While the Stryker project is still in the discussion stage, India and the US are conducting the final techno-commercial negotiations for inking two mega deals within this financial year.
The first is acquisition of 31 armed MQ-9B high-altitude, long endurance drones and associated equipment for $3.9 billion, as reported by TOI earlier. The second is the co-production of GE-F414 jet engines by General Electric and Hindustan Aeronautics for the Tejas Mark-II fighters in India, with 80% transfer of tech for around $1 billion.