The announcement was timed to coincide with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s landmark visit to the United States this week.

The deal, called “historic” and “trailblazing” by officials, is considered the most significant of a number of agreements expected to be concluded between the two countries or their companies during Modi’s visit, which ends on Friday.

Below are some facts about the engine and why it is critical for India’s military.

The Engine

The GE engine in question is called the F414 and it has been used by U.S. Navy aircraft for more than 30 years.

The F414 powers or is on order to power jets in the U.S., Sweden, Australia, Kuwait, Brazil, South Korea, India and Indonesia.

GE says it has delivered more than 1,600 F414 engines and they have clocked more than 5 million flight hours.

It is also manufactured in South Korea.

India’s Need

India’s quest to manufacture an engine for an indigenous light combat aircraft called “Tejas” began in the 1980s but has struggled.

Hindustan Aeronautics (HAL) turned to GE’s F404 engine – the predecessor of F414 – to power Tejas in the mid-2000s.

So far, 75 F404 engines have been delivered and another 99 worth $716 million are on order for Tejas Mark 1.

Tejas Mark 2, still under development, is a more powerful jet and needs a bigger engine. HAL has procured eight F414 engines for this programme.

The F414 will also be used to develop India’s next generation Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft.

India’s Air Force is desperate to shore up its fighter squadrons, which have fallen to 31 from a target of 42.

New Delhi hopes it can meet its target with home-made jets powered by home-made engines to keep costs under control and also to avoid becoming dependent on a foreign supplier.

U.S. Cooperation

India and the United States, once on opposite sides of the Cold War, have grown closer over the last two decades and are building a strong bond centred on trade, defence and technology partnerships as well as geopolitical alignment.

Washington designated India as a “major defence partner” in 2016 and New Delhi’s military purchases from the United States passed $20 billion in 2020 from near-zero in 2008.

India faces twin military threats from China and Pakistan and is the world’s largest arms importer.

It has traditionally been dependent on its old friend Russia for arms supplies but has over the decades also sourced from France, Israel and the U.S., among others.

Washington has sought to deepen ties with New Delhi also as a counter to China’s rising global influence. It also wants to wean India away from Russian military supplies and is willing to give India access to critical American technologies such as F414 it rarely shares with non-allies.

What Next?

The GE-HAL deal to co-produce F414 engines in India requires U.S. government and legislative approvals.

It is not known yet how much of the technology behind the F414 that GE will share with HAL, and if that includes sensitive technology that deals with managing very high engine temperatures.

The first F414 engines are expected to be delivered from the U.S. over the next three years while HAL sets up a production facility for it in India.

The first Tejas Mark 2 is expected to fly in 2026.

Full scale production of F414 in India and Tejas Mark 2 is expected only early in the next decade.

Washington (Reuters) – President Joe Biden aims to herald the start of a stronger U.S.-Indian relationship on Thursday by announcing a series of defense and trade agreements with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi as Washington attempts to counter China’s global influence.

Biden is rolling out the red carpet for Modi, treating him to a colorful White House South Lawn arrival ceremony on Thursday morning followed by Oval Office talks and a glittering state dinner in the evening. The two leaders held a private, intimate dinner at the White House on Wednesday night.

In a rare gesture, Modi has agreed to take questions from reporters with Biden at the White House on Thursday. Modi has not conducted a news conference since becoming prime minister nine years ago and his visit has drawn attention to concerns over human rights in India.

Washington wants India to be a strategic counterweight to China and sees India as a critical partnership. Modi is seeking to raise the influence that India, the world’s most populous country at 1.4 billion, has on the world stage in the wake of strained ties with neighboring China.

Senior Biden administration officials said the sweeping agreements to be announced on semiconductors, critical minerals, technology, space cooperation and defense cooperation and sales will ring in a new era in relations between the two countries.

Some of the deals are aimed at diversifying supply chains to reduce dependence on China. The United States has also sought to address China’s rising influence in the Indo-Pacific region by bolstering defense ties with countries like India and Australia.

The two leaders will sign off on what one official called a “trailblazing” deal to allow General Electric Co (GE.N) to produce jet engines in India to power Indian military aircraft. GE said on Thursday it signed a memorandum of understanding with Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd to produce the engines.

In addition, U.S. Navy ships in the region will be able to stop in Indian shipyards for repairs under a maritime agreement reached between the two governments.

The leaders will also announce India’s plan to procure U.S.-made armed MQ-9B SeaGuardian drones, the U.S. officials said. “We have now entered really a ‘next generation’ defense partnership,” said the U.S. official.

The agreements will include U.S. chipmaker Micron Technology’s (MU.O) $2.7 billion plan for a new semiconductor testing and packaging unit, to be built in Modi’s home state of Gujarat. The U.S. will also make it easier for skilled Indian workers to get and renew U.S. visas.

AOC, Muslim Congress Members To Boycott

The flurry of deals and agreements comes as activists and some lawmakers have raised serious concerns about democratic backsliding in India.

Biden is under pressure from his fellow Democrats to discuss human rights with Modi. Three progressive Democrats, U.S. Representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib, have said they would boycott Modi’s address to Congress on Thursday.

“I encourage my colleagues who stand for pluralism, tolerance and freedom of the press to join me in doing the same,” Ocasio-Cortez said in a Twitter post on Wednesday.

Biden will bring up concerns about press freedoms, religious freedoms and other issues in a respectful way without “hectoring, lecturing or scolding,” one U.S. official who briefed reporters said.

Rights advocates, who plan to protest during Modi’s visit, on Wednesday said Biden should publicly call out Modi’s rights record, saying the approach of U.S. administrations of raising issues in private with the Indian leader has not stemmed what they described as deteriorating human rights in India.

Modi has been to the United States five times since becoming prime minister in 2014, but the trip will be his first with the full diplomatic status of a state visit.

Modi will address U.S. CEOs at a Friday reception, as American companies plan new investments in India.

On Tuesday he met with Tesla chief Elon Musk in New York, who said afterwards he plans to make the vehicles available in India as soon as possible.

Musk said Modi was pushing the car maker to make a “significant investment” in the country, adding that such an announcement was expected soon.

The development comes at a time when Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is on an official state visit to the United States.

The agreement includes the potential joint production of GE Aerospace’s F414 engines in India and the engines will be used to power Tejas fighter jets, GE said.

Washington is working to deepen ties with the world’s largest democracy and sees deeper military-to-military and technology ties with India as a key counterweight to China’s dominance in the region.

Hindustan Aeronautics previously said it planned to use the engine for a second generation of light combat aircraft and it was in talks over domestic production of the engines.

Reuters reported in May the Biden administration was poised to sign off on a deal that would allow GE to produce jet engines powering Indian military aircraft.

GE first began working with Hindustan Aeronautics and the Aeronautical Development Agency in 1986 to support the development of India’s light combat aircraft with F404 engines.