By Krishn Kaushik, Sarita Chaganti Singh and David Brunnstrom
NEW DELHI/WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Indian Prime Minister Narendra&nbsp;Modi&nbsp;heads&nbsp;to the United States this week for a&nbsp;visit&nbsp;billed as a turning point for bilateral relations, with deeper cooperation in&nbsp;defence&nbsp;industry and sharing high&nbsp;technology in sharp focus.
The&nbsp;visit&nbsp;is expected to give India access to&nbsp;critical&nbsp;American&nbsp;technologies Washington rarely shares with non-allies, strengthening a new bond that is underpinned by not just global politics but also business and economics.
Washington and New Delhi, whose relationship was marked by mutual suspicion during the Cold War, have been moving closer for over two decades now with successive U.S. presidents displaying bipartisan support for stronger ties with the emerging Asian economy and regional power.
President Joe Biden has built on that legacy and expanded cooperation as the United States sees India as a vital partner in its efforts to push back against China's expanding influence worldwide and strengthen security in the Indo-Pacific.
Washington also wants to wean India away from its traditional&nbsp;defence&nbsp;partner Russia. New Delhi continues to do business with Moscow and has increased its purchases of cheap Russian oil in the aftermath of the invasion of Ukraine, much to the frustration of the West.
India too has overcome its "hesitations of history" - as&nbsp;Modi&nbsp;put it in a 2016 address to U.S. Congress - and looked West amid its own military tensions and fraying ties with China.
Though&nbsp;Modi&nbsp;has made several previous&nbsp;visits to the United States, this will be his first with the full diplomatic status&nbsp;of an official state&nbsp;visit, just the third of Biden's presidency and third by any Indian leader.
"It&rsquo;s a milestone in our relationship...It is a very significant&nbsp;visit, very important&nbsp;visit," India&rsquo;s Foreign Secretary Vinay Kwatra told reporters on Monday.
A key achievement expected to be showcased is in the area of&nbsp;defence&nbsp;cooperation, especially between military industries of the two countries, Kwatra said, as India seeks to produce more weapons and equipment at home for itself and also for export.
JET ENGINES, DRONES, SEMICONDUCTORS
Major announcements expected during&nbsp;Modi's&nbsp;visit&nbsp;are U.S. approval to General Electric to manufacture engines in India for its domestically produced fighter jets,&nbsp;India's&nbsp;purchase of 31 armed MQ-9B SeaGuardian drones made by General Atomics worth $3 billion, and removal of U.S. obstacles that prevent smoother trade in&nbsp;defence&nbsp;and high&nbsp;technology.
"People will be looking back on this&nbsp;visit&nbsp;by Prime Minister&nbsp;Modi&nbsp;as a real springboard for the U.S.-India relationship, as it relates to&nbsp;defence&nbsp;... issues in particular," Ely Ratner, Assistant Secretary of Defense for Indo-Pacific Affairs, said at a June 8 event.
A stronger India that can defend its own interests and can contribute to regional security is good for the United States, he said, adding that there is an aspiration to see India as an exporter of security in the region.
Cooperation in semiconductors, cyberspace, aerospace, strategic infrastructure and communication, commercial space projects, quantum computing and the&nbsp;use of artificial intelligence in industrial and&nbsp;defence&nbsp;fields, will also be discussed, a senior Indian official said.
During the three-day&nbsp;visit&nbsp;that begins in New York on June 21,&nbsp;Modi&nbsp;will be hosted by President Biden for a state dinner and a private family dinner, attend lunch with Vice-President Kamala Harris and Secretary of State Antony Blinken, and address a joint session of Congress for the second time in nine years.
Modi&nbsp;will also meet American CEOs and lead an International Yoga Day event at the UN headquarters.
"This is not a routine&nbsp;visit, this is a fundamental turning point between India and the U.S.," C. Raja Mohan, Senior Fellow at the Asia Society Policy Institute in New Delhi.
"This is not a question of containing China or anti-China. This is about producing a new balance of power in Asia, which is a multipolar Asia, where there is no single power dominating it," he said.
(Reporting by Krishn Kaushik and Sarita Chaganti Singh in NEW DELHI, David Brunnstrom in WASHINGTON; Editing by YP Rajesh)

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Defence, critical tech on agenda as India's Modi heads to US for landmark visit