NEW DELHI: India is in talks with the United States for the purchase and co-production of combat vehicles as well as finalising a fighter jet engine deal, people familiar with the matter said, as Prime Minister Narendra Modi meets President Donald Trump this week.

The world`s biggest arms importer, India traditionally relies mainly on Russia. Last month, Trump asked Modi, who heads to Washington on Wednesday for a two-day visit, to buy more US-made security equipment and move `toward a fair trading relationship`.

India and the United States have been in protracted talks over the co-production of Stryker combat vehicles made by General Dynamics and also used by the US Army. They are also working to wrap up contract talks on co-production of fighter jet engines in India for the Indian Air Force, a deal agreed in 2023, said two sources.

`We certainly wish to expedite the transaction which we would like to have with the United States,` Defence Production Secretary Sanjeev Kumar told reporters on Sunday, adding that such efforts were underway. But he did not elaborate.

Officials of India`s state-owned Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (H AL) are set to meet in coming weeks with US officials and the aerospace unit of General Electric, maker of GE-414 engines, for talks to finalise the deal by March, the sources said.

New Delhi has started talks with the Trump administration on a plan to buy Stryker vehicles after they were demonstrated late last year for the Indian Army, two other sources said.

The plan envisages that India will acquire a few hundred Strykers with a mounted anti-tank guided missile system, they added, and later co-produce them through a state-run firm, the sources said.-Reuters