US Under Secretary of War Elbridge Colby on Tuesday said his country was looking to expand its sales of military equipment to India, but added that the potential for co-production and co-development of equipment with India is a great possibility.Colby looks after policy matters in the Department of War, and his remarks on ‘co-production’ have come at a time when India and the US are closing in on having a deal for jointly making the F414 fighter jet engines in India.The engines are to power the Tejas Mark 2 jets and the first version of the advanced medium combat aircraft (AMCA).Colby was speaking at an event in New Delhi and is slated to meet Defence Secretary Rajesh Kumar Singh on Wednesday for the Defence Policy Group meeting.This is to “accelerate the momentum,” Colby said, adding “we look ahead to a critical new decade of our major Defence partnership”.He cited the ‘defence framework’ between the two countries to leverage defence industrial, science, and technology cooperation to enhance our forces’ readiness and to jointly develop and produce capabilities.“At the same time, even as we seek to expand U.S. sales to India,” he said, while adding that the US recognises India’s ambition to expand its indigenous industry.“A strong domestic industrial base enhances sovereignty and resilience. The US supports that objective ( of India),” Colby said, hinting that things are moving forward.On how things will move between India and the US, Colby said, “Our focus must now be on advancing to serve a larger strategic purpose: strengthening the ability of both countries to contribute to a stable balance of power in this vital region.”The US, he said, was committed to working with India to hasten and augment cooperation in areas including but not limited to long-range precision fires, resilient logistics, maritime domain awareness, anti-submarine warfare, and advanced technologies.“This will require persistence and creativity on both sides. Regulatory barriers, bureaucratic inertia, and differences in procurement systems are real challenges. But they are not insurmountable, and we should overcome them.”The US, he said, recognises the strategic centrality of military power for a stable balance in the region, and thus defence cooperation should enhance real capability.“Coordination between our militaries has grown, exercises have become more complex, information sharing has deepened, regional and global cooperation has become routine, and defense industrial and technology collaboration is taking on new momentum,” he added.The framework for the US-India major defence partnership was signed between Secretary of War Pete Hegseth and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh in October last year.