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18 January 2024

India’s defence minister visits the UK

Rahul Roy-Chaudhury

On 10 January 2024, India’s Minister of Defence Rajnath Singh concluded a three-day visit to the United Kingdom. As the first defence ministerial visit in 22 years it signifies a ‘reset’ of bilateral defence ties, even as the two countries acknowledge their different stances on the Russia–Ukraine war. The visit demonstrated both sides’ willingness to prioritise bilateral defence cooperation and to further prospects for the delivery of military capabilities to India. Yet several challenges remain.

Increased strategic convergence

The lengthy absence of an Indian defence ministerial visit was due to several factors. India’s trust was eroded through a combination of legacy issues such as the disruption of arms and equipment deals, concerns over the UK’s ‘golden era’ of relations with China, as well as its perceived tilt towards Pakistan over the Kashmir dispute. This last concern was exacerbated by the activities of pro-Kashmiri independence movements and pro-Khalistani (Sikh separatist) extremism in the UK. India instead deepened defence ties with France, Israel, Russia and the United States. The last major arms deal with the UK took place in July 2010 during then-prime minister David Cameron’s visit to India, when a US$1.1 billion deal was signed for a second batch of BAE Systems’ Hawk pilot-trainer aircraft.

After 2016, several shifts illustrated the growing strategic convergence between the two countries. The UK’s post-Brexit ‘Indo-Pacific tilt’, its de-hyphenation of India and Pakistan, and concerns over China’s assertive actions aligned more closely with India’s priorities as it faced Chinese aggression on its northern land border in June 2020 and was preoccupied by Chinese influence in the Indian Ocean. In May 2021, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and prime minister Boris Johnson launched the 2030 Roadmap for India–UK Future Relations, a ten-year plan for bilateral cooperation along five pillars, including defence and security, and elevated ties to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership. Meetings held between the two National Security Advisors in 2022 and 2023 helped build greater trust and facilitated progress in the bilateral security relationship.

Collaboration was strengthened further in 2023. In July and November, British and Indian officials participated in track 1.5 workshops led by the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London and New Delhi on bilateral defence and military-technology cooperation. In October, the inaugural meeting of the 2+2 Foreign and Defence Dialogue at senior official level was held in New Delhi.

No tangible industrial collaboration

Singh’s January 2024 visit made concrete steps to strengthen security cooperation, including the signing of a Letter of Arrangement between India’s Defence Research and Development Organisation and the UK’s Defence Science and Technology Laboratory focused on next-generation capabilities. Several new joint initiatives were agreed, for instance on logistics exchange between the UK and the Indian Armed Forces, and the UK also announced its plans to send the Littoral Response Group to the Indian Ocean and the Carrier Strike Group to operate and train with Indian forces in 2024 and 2025, respectively.

However, there has been no tangible collaboration between the two countries on defence capabilities to date. This is a result of the protectionist arms-procurement policies India has put in place in recent years, which seek to reduce direct imports while stimulating domestic defence industry. The first of these policies, launched in September 2014, is ‘Make in India’, aimed at developing the domestic manufacturing sector. The second, Atmanirbhar Bharat (‘self-reliant India’), was launched in May 2020 to support India’s defence-industrial base through foreign technology collaborations.

The UK government firmly supports India developing its defence industry, particularly in order to reduce its dependence on Russian military equipment. But greater private-sector engagement is necessary to drive substantive defence technological and industrial partnerships. In September 2023, the UK Ministry of Defence launched Defence Partnership-India, a bespoke organisation designed to further defence collaboration between UK and Indian businesses. In their January 2024 meeting, Singh and UK Secretary for Defence, Grant Shapps, stressed the importance of co-creation and co-innovation between the two countries.

The UK defence industry must lead in establishing collaborative partnerships, but it sees India as a risky financial venture and is therefore reluctant to boldly engage with it, unlike its counterparts in the US and France. This is driven by the ‘three-I’ challenge for UK companies in relation to India. These challenges pertain to foreign investment, which is limited due to the absence of an Indian procurement category allowing majority foreign ownership for the most lucrative projects; intellectual property rights, which stipulate that intellectual property must be Indian owned and controlled; and indigenous-content requirements, which require that a minimum level of 50% of the parts and materials used in weapons or equipment must be domestically sourced. There is also concern that sensitive technologies could be diverted from India to Russia, a claim which the Indian government stoutly challenges. At a roundtable co-chaired by Singh and Shapps on 10 January 2024, CEOs of major UK defence companies highlighted aero-engines, electric propulsion, missiles, power-packs and maritime systems as key areas for collaboration.

Singh’s visit to the UK sends a strong signal that the Indian government welcomes UK investment and defence-technology collaboration, and provides greater prospects for ongoing collaborative projects. But steps must be taken by both sides to move forward. The UK government must increase its cooperation and coordination with industry, while the UK defence industry should increase its visibility and presence in India to foster deeper links with Indian industry. Meanwhile, India should review its arms-procurement policies so they do not continue to hinder potential defence partnerships with the UK.

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