India is diversifying its arms imports away from Russia and boosting industry collaboration with Western allies. The Fourth Annual US-India 2+2 Ministerial Dialogue, hosted in Washington on 11 April, emphasised defence industry partnerships and ignited new deals. But shifting to new suppliers may require India to compromise on offsets, industry experts suggest.
Korean experts are urging the incoming Yoon Suk-yeol administration to sign a reciprocal defence procurement (RDP) with the United States. Despite concerns about the resilience of Korea’s defence industrial base, experts believe an RDP is necessary to facilitate joint production and promote Korea in global supply chains.
Industry experts from Georgetown University and Transparency International are calling for the US government to improve transparency around offsets linked to US arms sales. The comments were made during a Forum on the Arms Trade webinar on corruption in the arms industry on 14 April.
The Industrial Cooperation Authority (ICA) has released an overview of the agency’s offset deals during 2021. The agency signed $926m worth of offset agreements through 183 new agreements.
Europe’s decision to boost defence spending has presented governments with two choices: buying weapon systems off the shelf from third parties or doubling down on European collaborative programmes. At the same time, the continent’s new military demands and sanctions against Russia are straining supply chains already squeezed by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Belgium supplier Sabena Aerospace, Moroccan supplier SABCA Maroc, and American prime Lockheed Martin have signed a strategic partnership with the Kingdom of Morocco to implement the Moroccan joint venture Maintenance Aero Maroc (MAM).