WRIGHT-PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Ohio — The Air Force Security Assistance and Cooperation Directorate and the Air Force Research Laboratory headquartered here, recently hosted senior officials from the Indian Armed Forces and government for discussions and a tour of research facilities on base.

The visit was organized under a cooperative program led by the U.S. Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition & Sustainment with the goal to increase partnership with India’s Ministry of Defense’s science and technology community.

During the tour, Indian officials met with Air Force leaders to discuss weapon systems and future needs. In addition, the group reviewed two Air Force projects for potential co-development and co-production with India. One project is a small unmanned aerial system known as the Himalayan Eagle program, and the other is the Virtual Augmented Mixed Reality for Aircraft Maintenance or VAMRAM which is potentially a virtual reality tool to train aircraft maintenance personnel.

Both projects are viewed as having great potential for collaboration.

Future meetings between the U.S. and Indian delegation will occur later this month in India and then next month in Washington D.C. with Ellen Lord, Undersecretary of Defense for Acquisition & Sustainment and Chair of the US-India Defense Technology and Trade Initiative.

In the meantime, both countries are preparing the next steps to draft the technical planning documents which will define the roles and responsibilities of both countries if a partnership agreement is reached..

“This visit was important because it helped to strengthen our partnership with India and allowed us to look at technologies where we could align,” said Tina Konjic with AFRL’s International Partnering office. “With international partnering the focus is on reducing duplication, reducing costs, and leveraging global expertise and resources to meet Air Force needs.”