AMCHAM’s Defense Committee met with visiting U.S. government officials on April 23rd, under the leadership of Mr Salil Gupte, Chairman, AMCHAM and President, Boeing India & South Asia, Mr. Alain Garcia, Chairman – Defense Committee, AMCHAM and Vice President, International Business Development, Boeing Defense Space & Security, Boeing India Defense and Mr. Samit Ray, Co-Chairman – Defense Committee, AMCHAM and Deputy Vice President Government Relations and Public Policy, India &  South Asia, Raytheon Technologies Corporation. The meeting was an opportunity for members to closely interact with Dr. Andrew Byers, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for South and Southeast Asia, U.S. Department of Defense and Mr. Doug Beck, Director, Defense Innovation Unit (DIU), along with their colleagues.

Members discussed the participation of U.S. companies in India’s defense procurement and issues connected therewith, with intention to further strengthen the defense partnership between the two nations. Co-development, co-production, reciprocity in bilateral trade negotiations, indigenous content requirements, non-tariff barriers and the importance of G2G conversations in defense acquisitions, amongst other topics, were discussed. Participants exchanged views on transformational change to the DAP, shared IP, issues of sourcing raw materials and market access to wholly owned subsidiaries of U.S. companies. A draft proposal in preparation of the U.S.-India 10 Years Roadmap for Defense Industrial Cooperation was shared.

Additional U.S. government participants included: Mr. Bryan Wilson, Director, Global Partnerships, DIU, Mr. Arpit Mehta, Test & Evaluation Director, DIU, Mr. Jay Wise, Director, South Asia, Office of the Secretary of Defense, U.S. Department of Defense, Mr. Jonathan Mangrum, South Asia Policy Advisor, Office of the Secretary of Defense, IPSA-SSEA, U.S. Department of Defense, Brigadier General Patrick Teague, Defense Attache, U.S. Embassy, Lt Col Anthony Hughes, Director, Defense Cooperation in Armaments and Space, U.S. Embassy and LCDR Al Perry, Director, Navy Programs, Office of Defense Cooperation, U.S. Embassy. Representatives from BAE Systems, EY Aerospace and Defense, Lockheed Martin India and RTX, participated in the meeting.