The US and India are likely to agree to jointly manufacture fighter jet engines when  Prime Minister Narendra Modi visits Washington next week. The deal, if approved, would involve General Electric Co. partnering with state-owned Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. to produce engines for the Tejas light-combat aircraft. The collaboration reflects a strengthening military cooperation between the two nations in response to China’s increasing assertiveness. 

The deal is close to the finish line, according to people with knowledge of the matter, who asked not to be identified as the details are confidential, as reported by news agency Bloomberg.

PM Modi will visit the US on June 21. He would address the US Congress and also attend a state banquet to be organised by President Joe Biden.

A number of the deliverables from Modi’s visit “are not just bullet points on a page,” US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said at a conference in New Delhi on Tuesday. “They are fundamentally designed to remove those obstacles in defense trading, in high tech trade, in investment in each of our countries.”

Sullivan is in India this week for meetings with top Indian officials ahead of the Modi visit.

The Biden administration seeks to strengthen ties with India to counter China’s influence, overlooking India’s democratic concerns, and pulling it away from Russia’s influence.

Ties between US and India have grown stronger as concerns over China have increased despite significant differences “in the fields of values and vision,” said Sushant Singh, a senior fellow at New the Centre of Policy Research, a New Delhi-based think tank. “Those are currently being overridden by interests.”

The jet engine agreement, which would require technology transfer from America, will need approval from the US Congress, where India is banking on the general upswing in ties and bipartisan support to clear remaining hurdles.

Bengaluru-based Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. and India’s Ministry of External Affairs didn’t immediately reply to requests for comment. The US National Security Council had no comment, and GE declined to comment.