The unveiling of the India-US Defense Acceleration Ecosystem (INDUS-X) took place on Thursday in Washington. According to the defense ministry, the government has asked American and Indian entrepreneurs to collaborate in order to develop and produce cutting-edge technologies.

At the start of INDUS-X, Joint Secretary (Defence Industries Promotion) Anurag Bajpai asked the people there to come up with ways for businesses, universities, and companies to work together in the future. He also talked about the “Make in India” program, with a focus on “Aatmanirbhar Bharat” (self-reliant India) and the idea of “Make in India, for the world,” according to a statement from the ministry.

On June 20 and 21, Bajpai led the Indian delegation at the two-day INDUS-X event, which was held by the US-India Business Council (USIBC) and put on by Innovations for Defence Excellence (iDEX), the Ministry of Defense, and the US Department of Defense (DoD).

On June 20, a reception was set up for people from the Indian and US governments, defense startups, think tanks, incubators, investors, industries, and other players. The main speech was given by Eric Garcetti, who is the US Ambassador to India.

US Secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendall gave the opening speech at the event on June 21. He said that the friendship between the US and India is growing at a very fast rate. He stressed that companies in both countries have a lot of room to work together on deep tech innovations, especially in the space and artificial intelligence (AI) fields.

At the event, Indian and American companies showed off new technologies together for the first time ever. 15 Indian startups and 10 US startups from areas like maritime, AI, automated systems, and space showed off their technologies to people from India and the US.

Congressman Ro Khanna, who serves on the House Armed Services Committee as the ranking member of the Subcommittee on Cyber, Innovative Technologies and Information Systems (CITI) and as the co-chair of the Congressional Caucus on India and Indian Americans, and Radha Iyengar Plumb, Deputy Under Secretary of Defence for Acquisition and Sustainment, US DoD, both went to see the exhibition.

Two roundtables and two panel talks were held, and the focus was on getting more people from government, education, and business, especially startups, to work together. There were also talks about the rules for export control.

At the event, an INDUS-X info sheet was given out.

The US Chamber of Commerce says that INDUS-X could help India reach its goal of USD 5 billion in defense exports by 2025 and broaden its defense supply chain.

INDUS-X wants to pave the way for the goals set out in the US-India roadmap for defense industrial cooperation, take advantage of the tech-releasability results that the industry expects from the US-India Initiative on Critical and Emerging Technologies (iCET), look for joint opportunities in high-tech defense innovation, research, and development, and strengthen bilateral trade relationships and defense establishment links.

It will also make it easier for American and Indian defense companies to connect with each other so they can work together more on defense technology.