NEW DELHI: India and France are all set to further strengthen defence ties as Defence Minister Rajnath Singh meets his French counterpart Catherine Vautrin in Bengaluru on Tuesday for the sixth India-France Annual Defence Dialogue, where the two sides will renew their defence cooperation agreement for another ten years, take forward joint manufacturing of the HAMMER precision-guided munition in India and announce reciprocal deployment of officers between the Indian Army and French Land Forces establishments.
The meeting is being held during French President Emmanuel Macron’s visit to India and comes days after the defence ministry cleared proposals, including the Rs 3.25 lakh crore programme for procurement of 114 Rafales under the MRFA (multi-role fighter aircraft) programme.
The defence ministry on Sunday said the dialogue will review the “entire gamut of bilateral defence cooperation”, with focus on expanding defence industrial collaboration as the partnership increasingly moves towards co-production and technology partnerships.
A MoU (Memorandum of Understanding) related to the joint manufacturing of the HAMMER precision-guided weapon system in India will be taken forward during the dialogue.
The move builds on the Joint Venture Cooperation Agreement signed between Bharat Electronics Limited and Safran Electronics & Defence in November last year to manufacture the weapon through a 50:50 partnership.
The arrangement provides for localisation of production, supply and maintenance of the system to support operational requirements while increasing indigenous content in high-end munitions.
The HAMMER (Highly Agile Modular Munition Extended Range), developed by Safran Electronics & Defence and integrated with the Indian Air Force’s Rafale fighters, is a stand-off precision-guided air-to-ground weapon designed for strikes against hardened and high-value targets. The guided bomb was deployed by the IAF during the early hours of 7 May to strike terror infrastructure in Pakistan.
Sources said that the proposed arrangement includes production of the HAMMER 250 XLR and HAMMER 1000 XLR variants, with extended stand-off ranges and an initial production capacity of around 1,000 units annually.
The two ministers will also witness the virtual inauguration of the H125 Light Utility Helicopter FAL (final assembly line) at Vemagal in Karnataka, a joint programme between Tata Advanced Systems Limited (TASL) and Airbus Helicopters, to be inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Emmanuel Macron.
The facility, India’s first private-sector helicopter final assembly line, is part of expanding aerospace manufacturing cooperation between India and France and is expected to assemble H125 helicopters for the Indian and regional markets from early 2027.
The meeting comes at a time when cooperation in the Rafale ecosystem continues to expand, covering aircraft, weapons and maintenance support.
Alongside this, aero-engine technology has also emerged as a major area of engagement, with Safran pitching deeper collaboration with India on fighter jet engine development, including discussions linked to future propulsion requirements under the fifth-gen AMCA (Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft) programme.
The expanding scope of cooperation reflects a broader shift in India’s defence partnerships. While Russia has historically been India’s principal supplier of major military platforms, New Delhi has increasingly diversified procurement and technology partnerships in recent years, with France and Israel emerging as key partners in combat aviation, precision weapons and advanced defence technologies.
Military-to-military engagement between India and France also continues through regular bilateral exercises such as Shakti between the armies, Varuna between the navies and Garuda between the air forces, which remain the operational backbone of the relationship as defence cooperation expands during Macron’s visit.