New Delhi - India and Australia on Monday agreed to develop a defence supplies and services pact, while stepping up cooperation in maritime surveillance, undersea domain awareness and military interoperability as the two Quad partners deepen strategic coordination in the Indo-Pacific.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and Australian Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Richard Marles co-chaired the second India-Australia Defence Ministers’ Dialogue in New Delhi, barely eight months after their inaugural meeting in Australia. Marles arrived describing the two countries as “top-tier security partners.”
A key outcome of the dialogue was the decision to begin work on a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for the provision of defence articles and services, which the two sides described as the next step in deepening defence-industrial collaboration. The ministers also welcomed Australia’s first defence trade mission to India and the Australia-India Defence Industry Roundtable, both held in October last year.
Sources said that the MoU’s specifics are still to be negotiated but it is expected to provide a framework for closer defence-industrial cooperation, including potential collaboration in defence manufacturing, sustainment and supply chains.
Maritime security dominated the agenda as the two sides agreed to progress collaborative maritime domain awareness activities by maritime patrol aircraft and explore opportunities to enhance undersea domain awareness, while encouraging further cooperation between the Indian Coast Guard and Australia’s Maritime Border Command.
India and Australia will also jointly host a Search and Rescue tabletop exercise in Chennai later this month under the Indian Ocean Rim Association framework. The two sides agreed to further improve interoperability under the 2020 Mutual Logistics Support Arrangement, while confirming that inaugural Joint Staff Talks will be held later this year.
The maritime push dovetailed with the Quad’s evolving security agenda, which got a fresh boost at last week’s foreign ministers’ meeting in the capital. The ministers backed the new Quad Indo-Pacific Maritime Surveillance Collaboration initiative and welcomed India’s operationalisation of the Indo-Pacific Partnership for Maritime Domain Awareness through the Information Fusion Centre in Gurugram.
Military engagement between the two countries is also set to intensify. The statement said that the two sides are also set to operationalise their first bilateral air-to-air refuelling exercise during Exercise Pitch Black.
Furthermore, India will take part in Australia’s Operation Render Safe for the first time, while Australia has invited it to join the submarine rescue exercise Black Carillon, pointing to growing cooperation in specialised operational domains.
Beyond exercises, the two countries agreed to step up collaboration in defence science and technology, with a particular focus on sensor technologies. Marles invited India to participate in Australia’s Defence Science, Technology and Research Summit next year, while officials were tasked with finalising plans for the deployment of an Indian instructor at the Australian Defence College.
The outcomes reinforced the broader strategic convergence between the two countries. The joint statement backed a “free, open, peaceful, stable and prosperous Indo-Pacific” and reiterated support for freedom of navigation, overflight and a rules-based maritime order under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.