India, US Near Agreement To Build Jet Engines In Boost To PM Modi

The deal is close to the finish line, according to people with knowledge of the matter, who asked not to be identified as the details are confidential.

The US and India are likely to agree to jointly manufacture fighter jet engines in the country when Prime Minister Narendra Modi visits Washington next week, a sign of closer military cooperation between the two countries in the face of China's growing assertiveness.

The deal is close to the finish line, according to people with knowledge of the matter, who asked not to be identified as the details are confidential. The White House is expected to clear the proposal from General Electric Co., the Massachusetts-based aerospace manufacturing giant, to produce the engines with state-owned Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. for the Tejas light-combat aircraft, the people said.

PM Modi starts his first formal state visit on June 21. President Joe Biden will host him for a state banquet, and PM Modi will also address the US Congress. 

A number of the deliverables from PM Modi's visit "are not just bullet points on a page," US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said at a conference in New Delhi on Tuesday. "They are fundamentally designed to remove those obstacles in defense trading, in high tech trade, in investment in each of our countries."