Defence Industrial Sector Relations: India and France have decided to cooperate in identifying prospects for co-design, co-development, and co-production as well as to better integrate their military industries.
“In a reflection of the deep mutual trust and confidence between the two countries, and drawing strength from their decades-old cooperation in advanced technologies, President Macron and Prime Minister Modi reiterated their commitment to further deepening the integration between the two countries’ respective defence industrial sectors and to work together to identify opportunities for co-design, co-development, co-production with the objective of not only fulfilling the defence needs of the Indian armed forces, but also of providing a viable and reliable source of defence supplies to other friendly countries,” according to a joint statement released by India and France following Macron’s State Visit to India to mark Republic Day.
During the visit, Prime Minister Modi and French President Macron observed that defence industry collaboration, particularly from the design stage, not only supports broader advancements in the fields of science, technology, digital, and material sciences to realise the vision of Viksit Bharat for 2047, but also creates high-quality jobs for the youth and advances the Prime Minister’s vision of Atmanirbhar Bharat. The two leaders applauded the establishment of an ambitious Defence Industrial Roadmap as a step towards achieving this goal.
Defence Industrial Sector Relations
Within the larger framework of the ambitious partnership, and as expounded upon in the industrial roadmap, they expressed their gratitude for the advancements made in the establishment of Safran’s MRO for LEAP engines in India, as well as the plans to incorporate MRO for Rafale engines. Additionally, they applauded the establishment of a comprehensive helicopter partnership with a Joint Venture for IMRH engine between HAL and Safran, as well as the Scorpene submarines built in India, complete with indigenization, as per the joint statement between France and India.
They also expressed their gratitude for the talks that took place between the French Directorate General of Armament (DGA) and India’s Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), and they want to quickly finalise an Arrangement Memorandum of Understanding.
PM Modi and French President Macron praised the overall advancement in the military and security collaboration, which is a cornerstone of the alliance and a means of fortifying their respective nations’ strategic autonomy and sovereignty as well as of promoting regional peace.
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It encompasses all realms, from the ocean floor to space, and includes everything from equipment and exercises to intelligence and information sharing. According to the joint statement, they commended the conclusions and the guidelines established by the Maritime Cooperation Dialogue, which took place in October 2023, and the 5th Annual Defence Dialogue, which was presided over by the two Defence Ministers.
They decided to explore a separate combined tri-services exercise and expressed pleasure with the growing complexity and interoperability of joint defence exercises between France and India on land, in the air, and at sea. They also talked about aggressively collaborating with other like-minded nations to strengthen capacity, especially in the marine sector.
