India’s Defence Minister, Rajnath Singh, was on an official trip to the United Kingdom, marking the first such visit in 22 years.
India-UK ties have recently been upgraded to a 2+2 mechanism, a template taken from Japan. New Delhi usually employs this to navigate foreign and defence relations with a few strategic partners in the world, namely the US, Japan, Australia, Russia and now the UK. The only pre-eminent strategic partner with whom India does not have this arrangement is France, where deep convergence of bilateral trust and ties transcends any mechanism per se.
The diplomatic ties between India and the UK have often remained mired in political controversy. New Delhi’s sharp rebuttals to the condescending tone of ‘anti-India’ stories by BBC and to the Khalistani menace in the UK political spectrum have often overshadowed the need to better analyse facets of defence and economic ties between the two countries.
Despite significant progress in defence industry cooperation, Indo-Pacific collaboration and a carefully negotiated Free Trade Agreement (FTA), the analysis of India-UK relations, the UK’s role in the Indo-Pacific and its defence and innovation capabilities remains insufficient.
Much water has flowed under the bridge since George Fernandes, India’s then Defence Minister made an official trip to the UK in 2002. The newly upgraded 2+2 mechanism is dedicated to discussing and reviewing all aspects of the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership given the targets set for the 2030 Roadmap for India-UK future relations.
It is noteworthy that Singh’s three-day trip to the UK occurred less than two months after Minister of External Affairs S. Jaishankar’s five-day visit to London during Diwali 2023. The Defence Minister received a state welcome, engaging with counterpart Grant Shapps, Foreign Secretary David Cameron, and Prime Minister Rishi Sunak. Singh also interacted with members of the 1.6 million-strong British Indian community.
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Defence Industrial cooperation
Accompanied by a Ministry of Defence delegation, including senior officials from the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), Service Headquarters, Department of Defence, and Department of Defence Production, the focus area of Singh’s visit was the deepening of defence industry cooperation and collaboration. This effort involved building upon the discussions initiated during the November 2023 Defence Consultative Group (DCG) meeting in New Delhi.
Among other developments, a Letter of Agreement has been signed between DRDO and the UK’s Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (DSTL), which will go a long way for joint research on innovation in defence technology.
The joint working group (JWG) on India-UK Electric Propulsion Capability Partnership 2022, which has seen steady advancement, was also one of the important topics of discussion this time. The Indian Navy has been considering adding electric propulsion (EP) systems to naval vessels currently lacking this capability.
This move will power the future fleets of both India and the UK toward the interoperability of vessels in the maritime domain, particularly in the Indo-Pacific. It is also futuristic as the impact of electric propulsion on military hardware is significant in reducing carbon footprint and improving ship navigation economy.
Needless to say, upgrading to EP is fundamental to the Indian Navy’s rapidly growing force. It is one of the most important steps to adapt to reliable, proven, efficient, effective, economical and environmentally friendly state-of-the-art technologies.
In 2022, India and the UK also set up another JWG on strengthening defence industry collaboration. The following year, the UK issued its first Open General Export Licence (OGEL) in the Indo-Pacific region to India to shorten delivery time for defence procurement.
Singh also assessed the progress on commitments within the India-UK partnership concerning India’s indigenous combat aircrafts, including Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Mk 2 and Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft (AMCA).
In an effort to support the Make in India programme, Thales in the UK and Bharat Dynamics Limited (BDL) have recently signed an agreement to produce next-generation Very Short-Range Air Defence (VSHORAD) missiles in India, which will be supplied to both UK and Indian forces. Similarly, MBDA UK has established a live build capacity in India for the agile and much-in-demand Advanced Short-Range Air to Air Missile (ASRAAM) in partnership with BDL.
The most significant India–UK project currently underway is the co-development of gas-turbine propulsion technology for India’s next-generation fighter-aircraft engines by Rolls Royce and DRDO.
Singh’s visit has given a fresh impetus to all these initiatives but much ground remains to be covered. As highlighted, only 3 per cent of India’s recent defence acquisitions in the past decade have come from the UK. From the UK’s perspective, Indian procurement policies have rendered some forms of cooperation with the UK defence industry commercially non-viable.
That said, a better know-how of India’s diverse defence procurement pathways can offer solutions. The role of political leadership and enabling frameworks become significant here. The Indian government can also take decisions to enhance the overall ecosystem for attracting better Foreign Direct Investment (FDI).
On its part, the UK government has to incentivise its defence industry to enhance its engagement with India.
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Britain and India in the Indo-Pacific
The UK has recently joined the Indian Navy’s Information Fusion Center—Indian Ocean Region (IFC-IOR) at Gurugram. A British lieutenant commander stationed there has been working on developing maritime domain awareness capabilities in the IOR and in the wider Indo-Pacific. The UK has also decided to send a navy ship to the Indian Ocean this year.
For the UK, ramping up maritime presence in the larger Indo-Pacific gets its fuel from the 2021 foreign policy document titled, Integrated Review for Global Britain. Engagement with partners like India, Japan, South Korea, and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has been a priority for the Brits. India’s unique location in the IOR and the ongoing defence industrial cooperation complements India’s role in the UK’s Indo-Pacific tilt.
However, the devastating implications of the Russia-Ukraine war for European security led the Sunak government to update the document in March 2023, addressing a world that was more contested and volatile than ever.
With regard to the Indo-Pacific, the document mentions the deployment of the UK Carrier Strike Group and two offshore patrol vessels to the region, and co-launching the Partners in the Blue Pacific initiative. It also proposes linking the Euro-Atlantic and Indo-Pacific theatres through two major defence and security partnerships: AUKUS with the US and Australia, and the Global Combat Air Programme (GCAP) with Italy and Japan. India is mentioned 10 times in the document.
The upgradation of India-UK ties and the subsequent headway made in all aspects of bilateral relations suggests mutual efforts on both sides to enhance convergences and handle divergences, particularly regarding Russia’s war in Ukraine. However, London needs to address the issue of Sikh separatist activities in the UK more effectively. Despite the formation of a working group to tackle this challenge, instances of repeated vandalism at Indian High Commission properties continue to be reported.
Moreover, 2024 is the year of elections globally. India is gearing up for Lok Sabha elections in May. Meanwhile, the UK along with its closest ally, the US, will also hold polls around the same time later in the year. Sunak recently hinted that the UK would go to vote in October, while the American presidential elections are scheduled in November. Despite bipartisan support for India and the Indo-Pacific in the US, the situation in the UK is tricky. In the likely scenario of the Labour party returning to power, although support for Ukraine will be maintained, hints dropped by the party on the Tories’ Indo-Pacific tilt are not very encouraging for now.
The writer is an Associate Fellow, Europe and Eurasia Center, at the Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses. She tweets @swasrao. Views are personal.