UK India announce Defense Cooperation

This week UK Defense Secretary Grant Shapps welcomed Republic of India’s Defense Minister, Rajnath Singh in the UK to boost UK-India defense cooperation, the first visit to the UK by an Indian Defense Minister in more than 20 years.

The UK and India have today (Jan 10, 2024) vowed to continue strengthening ties during the first visit of an Indian Defense Minister to the UK in more than 20 years.

In a move that signals the growing importance of the strategic relationship between the UK and India, Defense Secretary Grant Shapps welcomed the Honorable Raksha Mantri Shri Rajnath Singh to the UK to agree unprecedented levels of UK-India defense cooperation.   

The Defense Secretary announced the UK’s plans to send its Littoral Response Group to Indian Ocean Region later this year, with plans for the Carrier Strike Group to visit in 2025. Both will operate and train with Indian forces.

The two nations also discussed future cooperation in defense from joint exercises to knowledge sharing and instructor exchanges. These steps build on the comprehensive strategic partnership envisaged in the 2030 India-UK roadmap, announced in 2021.

In the coming years, the UK and India will also embark on more complex exercises between their respective militaries, building up to a landmark joint exercise to be conducted before the end of 2030, supporting shared goals of protecting critical trade routes and upholding the international rules-based system. 

Defense Secretary, Grant Shapps, said:

“There is absolutely no question that the world is becoming increasingly contested, so it’s vital that we continue to build on our strategic relationships with key partners like India. Together we share the same security challenges and are steadfast on our commitment to maintaining a free and prosperous Indo-Pacific.

It is clear that this relationship is going from strength-to-strength, but we must continue to work hand-in-hand to uphold global security in light of threats and challenges that seek to destabilize and damage us.”

Collaboration with industry is also key in the strategic defense partnership between the UK and India, with the two nations working together on electric propulsion systems that will power our future fleets and cooperating on the development of complex weapons.

Building on the existing strategic partnership, during the visit the UK and India also confirmed several new joint initiatives. These include:

• Launching Defense Partnership-India – a bespoke office designed to further defense collaboration between the two countries.    
   
• A commitment to several instructor exchanges between our world-leading Officer Training Colleges and specialist schools, alongside signing of a Youth Exchange MOU to solidify the already strong relationship between our cadet organizations.    
   
• Signing a Letter of Arrangement that will enable further emphasis to be placed on research and development between our two nations, focused on next-generation capabilities.    
   
• Solidifying an agreement on logistics exchange, allowing for the provision of logistic support, supplies and services between the United Kingdom and Indian Armed Forces, for joint training, joint exercises, authorized port visits and Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR) operations.