Here, a US-India hi-tech partnership assumes significance, but US export controls, specifically those under a regime called the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (the ITAR), may need to be carefully considered. The good news is that US-India Initiative on Critical and Emerging Technologies (iCET) was recently elevated to a strategic partnership….
For India and the US, what is needed is a preliminary roadmap to gauge the degree to which high-end technologies covered under the iCET are afflicted by the ITAR restrictions. Perhaps the commercial space sector – often the subject of the ITAR restrictions – would be a good place to do this exercise.
Space technologies usually originate in the military domain, though they also have civilian applications. For instance, launch vehicles can also be employed as ballistic missiles. Similarly, while satellites play a critical role in disaster management and other areas like precision farming, they could also provide support to a country’s armed forces for the purpose of reconnaissance and surveillance. So, trade in space technology items is usually subject to the ITAR controls….
From ‘Forging a High-Technology Partnership Between the United States and India in the Age of Export Controls’, Carnegie India