India, US to jointly develop UAVs and share IP rights

Category
Science & Technology
Published
16th Feb, 2023

Context

India and the US have moved ahead to jointly develop air launched unmanned aerial vehicles that will be used for surveillance missions

About

What is Air-Launched Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (ALUAV)?

In 2021, the Indian Ministry of Defence and U.S. Department of Defense signed a Project Agreement for ALUAV, under the Joint Working Group Air Systems in the Defence Technology and Trade Initiative (DTTI).
Execution: Bengaluru-based Aeronautical Development Establishment (ADE) and the Aerospace Systems Directorate at the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory, along with the Indian and U.S. Air Forces, are the principal organisations for execution of the project agreement.
The ALUAV is being developed to be launched from an aircraft (C130J aircraft).

In 2016, the United States designated India as a “major defense partner," and since then, the two countries have signed agreements that facilitate transfers of top-grade arms and deepen military cooperation.

What about IP Rights?

The Air Launched Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (ALUAV) program is taking place under the Defence Technology and Trade Initiative (DTTI) and a critical factor is that the intellectual property (IP) rights for the new system will be jointly shared by the two sides.

Defence Technology and Trade Initiative (DTTI)

The main aim of DTTI is to bring sustained leadership focus to promote collaborative technology exchange and create opportunities for co-production and co-development of future technologies for Indian and US military forces.
Under DTTI, Joint Working Groups on land, naval, air, and aircraft carrier technologies have been established for focus on mutually agreed projects in respective domains.
The Project Agreement (PA) for co-development of ALUAV has been overseen by the Joint Working Group on Air Systems and is a major accomplishment for DTTI.