India, France looking at taking strategic partnership to 'newer heights': Rajnath Singh

Singh and French Minister of Armed Forces Sebastien Lecornu held extensive talks at the fifth annual India-France Defence Dialogue in Paris on Wednesday evening with a focus on enhancing defence industrial cooperation.

India and France took stock of their plans to jointly develop next generation engines for fighter planes when Defence Minister Rajnath Singh met his French counterpart Sebastian Lecornu in Paris, three months after the ambitious plan was announced, sources said here on Thursday.

"The two ministers discussed a wide range of topics from the assessment of regional situations to the ongoing military-to-military engagements, with a focus on enhancing defence industrial cooperation," the defence ministry said.

The meeting took place late on Wednesday.

In addition, the two countries discussed potential collaboration on niche areas like space, cyber and artificial intelligence. However, there was no official word on the much-awaited commercial pacts to purchase Rafale-M maritime fighter jets for the Indian Navy and construction of three more Scorpene-class submarines at Mazgaon dock.

Singh and Lecornu reviewed the ongoing defence projects and discussed ways to deepen the collaboration between the defence industries from two countries, officials said, adding they discussed potential collaboration in niche domains such as space, cyber and artificial intelligence.

The review comes three months after PM Modi visited Paris to hold bilateral talks with French President Emmanuel Macron when the two nations were leant to collaborate on developing a combat engine and three more submarines.

“In the future, India and France will extend their ground-breaking defence cooperation in advanced aeronautical technologies by supporting the joint development of a combat aircraft engine,” the Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement in July.

With Safran looking at a mega engine making project in India, Singh on Wednesday, visited the company’s jet engine manufacturing facility at Gennevilliers near Paris and witnessed the latest developments in aero-engine technology.

The French major has also tied up with Hindustan Aeronautics Limited for the Indian multi-role helicopter programme.

Singh interacted with a group of CEOs of top French defence companies and flagged the advantages of co-development and co-production of defence hardware in India for exporting to third countries.

Before traveling to France, the defence minister visited Italy for bilateral talks with his counterpart on military affairs and signed a defence cooperation agreement.