No spillover effect from trade tension on India-US military ties: Defence secretary

Pune: Defence secretary Rajesh Kumar Singh on Friday said that the ongoing trade tension with the United States have no impact on bilateral defence cooperation , which continues to move on schedule.

"There is no spillover effect from what is described as trade tension with the US. In fact, that tension is easing now. We have resumed our negotiations and hopefully, those will be successful," Singh told reporters at STRIDE 2025, a defence conclave organised by the Southern Command in Pune.

He emphasised that strategic and military engagements with Washington remain unaffected, with high-level dialogues and joint mechanisms proceeding without disruption. "In the recent past, we held delegation-level talks and 2+2 discussions."

Singh confirmed that General Electric (GE) 404 engines for the light combat aircraft Tejas Mark-IA are being delivered on time, with three already in India. He also pointed out that two Apache attack helicopters were recently inducted into the Indian Army, signalling that defence supply chains remain on track.

On India's air defence preparedness, Singh highlighted Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Independence Day announcement of the "Sudarshan Chakra" mission, which will combine defensive and offensive elements.

"India's existing multi-layered air defence system performed very well during Operation Sindoor," he said, adding that though further expansion was needed to secure critical infrastructure and population centres.

"I do not think we suffered any major losses or casualties despite repeated attempts through drones and missiles to penetrate our air defence system. But obviously, India has a large landmass. We need to at least ensure that all our critical infrastructure, population centres and industries are covered," he said.

Capability gaps during Operation Sindoor: Defence secretary

Operation Sindoor was a reality check and certain capability gaps were noticed, Singh said.

"I think it is pretty clear in the context of the current geopolitical situation that most countries are paying a lot of attention to defence and hard power. Given our neighbourhood, India is no exception. We just had this experience with Operation Sindoor, which in some ways was a reality check for us in terms of where we can do better and where we need to adapt to the changing needs of future warfare," he said.

Referring to the evolving threat posed by drones and unmanned systems, Singh said specific capability areas have been identified to strengthen the defence manufacturing ecosystem.

"In the context of Operation Sindoor, certain capability gaps were noticed. These include electronic warfare, counter-unmanned systems, a stronger manufacturing base for military-grade drones that can survive in GPS-denied and contested environments, and various types of low-level radars," he said.