The new India-US defence pact offers reassurance amid turmoil

It lays the path for defence cooperation although dissonance in other spheres could test its success

- HARSH V. PANT & VIVEK MISHRA

It has long been held that the defence partnership between India and the US forms the strongest pillar of their bilateral relationship.

Major defence acquisitions, technology transfers and growing strategic convergences in the Indo-Pacific over the past two decades have reinforced this belief. More importantly, backed by steady growth in political and security ties, India-US relations have witnessed a growing alignment between expectations and realities.

However, since the onset of the second Donald Trump administration, a series of unfavourable political developments have widened the gap between perception and progress. Trump’s characteristic theatrics have contributed to a decline in perception even as substantive developments in ties sustain optimism. In one such development, India's defence minister Rajnath Singh and US secretary of war Pete Hegeseth on 31 October signed the US-India Defense Framework Agreement.