NEW DELHI: Chief of Defence Staff General Anil Chauhan is on a three-day official visit to the United Kingdom from Sunday, marking the first such visit by an Indian CDS, as both sides step up efforts to expand military cooperation, training linkages and defence industrial partnerships.
During the visit, General Chauhan is scheduled to hold talks with his British counterpart, UK Chief of the Defence Staff Sir Richard Knighton, with discussions expected to focus on enhancing cooperation across operations, joint training and co-production in the defence sector.
The visit comes amid a steady uptick in high-level military engagements between the two countries. This is the fifth senior-level interaction between the Indian and UK armed forces this year, following Sir Knighton’s visit to India last month.
According to a statement issued by the British High Commission in New Delhi on Monday, General Chauhan will also meet senior UK civil and military leadership, as well as representatives from the British defence industry, to “progress talks on greater defence co-production between the two countries”.
He is also scheduled to visit the Royal College of Defence Studies, where he will interact with officers from multiple countries undergoing higher military training.
The visit builds on the broader India-UK defence engagement framework, including the 10-year Defence Industrial Roadmap agreed under the Vision 2035 partnership, which aims to strengthen joint manufacturing, technology sharing and long-term capability development.
“General Chauhan’s landmark visit shows the trust and ambition driving the UK-India defence partnership. We are stepping up cooperation to strengthen interoperability, spur innovation and support a free, open and secure Indo-Pacific,” British High Commissioner to India Lindy Cameron said.
She added that India remains “a key defence partner for the UK” and that both sides are “moving faster and closer” across areas ranging from joint training to strategic dialogue.
A key pillar of the expanding relationship is officer training and institutional exchanges, which have seen a steady increase over the past few years. Under an agreement signed earlier this year, the Indian Air Force has deployed three Qualified Flying Instructors to RAF Valley, the Royal Air Force’s premier fast-jet training base, where they are involved in training British and international pilots on advanced platforms.
Indian officers are also embedded across UK military academies, including the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, the Britannia Royal Naval College and the Royal Air Force College Cranwell. These exchanges are aimed at improving interoperability, familiarising officers with each other’s doctrines and operational practices, and building long-term professional linkages.
Conversely, UK officers regularly attend courses at Indian institutions such as the National Defence College and the Defence Services Staff College, reflecting a reciprocal training framework that has expanded in scope beyond ceremonial exchanges to include operational and staff-level exposure.
Furthermore, Defence Adviser at the British High Commission, Commodore Chris Saunders, said the visit “signals the significant progress we have achieved together across all areas of defence” and provides an opportunity to further expand military-to-military engagement.
“The visit will enable an opportunity to further discuss deepening our strong military-to-military engagement, expanding our cooperative training ambitions and exploring how we can develop greater defence industrial collaboration,” he said.
India and the UK have also expanded joint exercises in recent years, including their largest-ever maritime exercise in 2025 involving carrier strike groups, as well as Exercise Ajeya Warrior held in Rajasthan between British and Indian Army units.
The current visit is being seen as part of a broader push by both countries to align defence cooperation with industrial growth goals, including India’s push for self-reliance in defence manufacturing, with training exchanges emerging as a key component of deeper institutional integration between the two militaries.