US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth on Saturday described India as a “critical anchor” in South Asia and a key partner in maintaining the balance of power in the Indo-Pacific, signalling Washington’s continued push to deepen strategic and defence cooperation with New Delhi amid growing geopolitical competition in the region.Addressing the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore, Hegseth said a strong and capable India acting in its own national interest advanced shared objectives of regional stability and security.Today, I addressed the delegates of the Shangri-La Dialogue.⁰⁰I outlined America’s return to realism in the most consequential region in the world: the Pacific.⁰⁰We are moving away from a model of dependency and toward one of true partnership, to preserve a favorable balance… pic.twitter.com/BzHCFKq072— Secretary of War Pete Hegseth (@SecWar) May 30, 2026“In South Asia, India is a critical anchor to hold the line. A powerful India acting in its own self-interest advances our shared goal of maintaining a balance of power across the region,” he said.The remarks come at a time when the United States is seeking to strengthen partnerships with like-minded countries across the Indo-Pacific to counter emerging security challenges and ensure a free and open regional order.Highlighting India’s growing military capabilities, Hegseth said New Delhi was steadily modernising its armed forces and expanding its capacity to shoulder a greater share of the regional security burden, particularly in the strategically important Indian Ocean region.“India is modernising its military to carry its share of the security burden, particularly in the Indian Ocean,” he said.The US Defence Secretary also pointed to India’s rapidly expanding industrial and logistics capabilities, saying these would play an important role in sustaining high-end military operations and supporting defence cooperation between the two countries.“It’s building out the heavy industrial and logistics capacity to sustain high-end military operations, including the ability to repair and maintain our shared platforms and support US Navy vessels operating forward in the theatre,” Hegseth said.In a significant reference to the ongoing defence industrial collaboration, Hegseth said Washington and New Delhi were pursuing co-production initiatives aimed at strengthening military readiness and enhancing joint capabilities.“We’ve also committed to pursuing co-production with India to advance capabilities, like Javelin anti-tank guided munitions – real, tangible steps to improve the collective readiness of our forces,” he said.His remarks are likely to be seen as a fresh endorsement of India’s growing role in the US strategic calculus in the Indo-Pacific and underscore increasing cooperation in defence manufacturing, logistics support and technology sharing.Hegseth stressed that strengthening defence industrial capacity was no longer merely a long-term objective but an operational necessity in an increasingly contested security environment.“This kind of industrial muscle isn’t just a long-term goal. It’s an immediate operational imperative,” he said.The Pentagon chief also highlighted efforts underway in the United States to revitalise its own defence manufacturing base, describing it as a historic national mobilisation of American industrial capacity.“And the United States Department of War is leading the way. America is undergoing a historic national manufacturing mobilisation of our defence industrial base,” he said.