Rajnath Singh, French counterpart Parly discuss defence co-production amid nuclear-powered submarine talks

Officials earlier said the recent developments in Afghanistan and the situation in the Indo-Pacific region will figure in the talks

Even as India is exploring the possibility of clinching a deal with France for a nuclear-powered submarine along with transfer of technology, the two nations held the annual defence dialogue in New Delhi on Friday and discussed future collaborations on and co-production of military hardware.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh hosted French Minister for Armed Forces, Florence Parly, in New Delhi for the third India-France Annual Defence Dialogue. They discussed defence industrial cooperation with focus on future collaborations and co-production between the two countries, according to a press release issued by the Government of India.

Parly also had a meeting with National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and called on Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The details of the future collaboration and co-production projects discussed during the annual defence dialogue were not made public. A source, however, pointed out that the Singh-Parley meeting had been held even as New Delhi had already started exploring the possibility of clinching a deal with Paris for a French Barracuda-class nuclear-powered submarine with transfer of technology to India.

Also read: French Defence Minister Florence Parly reviews military ties in India

Parly also discussed with Singh the possibility of French shipbuilder Naval Group’s participation in Project 75I for manufacturing six conventional diesel-electric submarines in India, according to another source in New Delhi. The Naval Group of France in fact might be excluded from the project as India insisted that the Project 75I submarines should have Air Independent Propulsion systems tested and proven on an operational vessel.

Singh and Parly on Friday discussed a wide range of bilateral, regional, defence and defence industrial cooperation issues. They reviewed the existing military-to-military cooperation, which increased in spite of challenges posed by the Covid-19, according to a press release issued by the Ministry of Defence.

“They discussed ways to increase defence cooperation in all domains.”

New Delhi's Rs 59,000 crore government-to-government deal with Paris to procure 36 Rafale fighter jets “off the shelf” had turned into a major political controversy in India, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government being accused by the opposition Congress of nudging the Dassault Aviation to choose Reliance Defence as its offset partner, brushing aside state-owned Hindustan Aeronautics Limited.

Also read: France ready to provide additional Rafale jets if India requires: French defence minister

India already received 33 Rafale fighter jets from France.

Parly on Friday said that France would be ready to meet any additional requirement of India for Rafale fighter aircraft. She also said that both France and India wanted to preserve the Indo-Pacific as an open and inclusive area.

“It must be free from any coercion and based on compliance to international law,” she said.

France was irked by the US move earlier this year to join Australia and the UK to launch a trilateral security coalition – AUKUS – for development of joint military capabilities and sharing of defence technologies to counter the military aggression of China in the Indo-Pacific region.

The AUKUS is intended to create a framework for the US and UK to support Australia in acquiring a fleet of nuclear-powered submarines. The launch of the AUKUS triggered a sharp reaction from Paris, as it scuttled a $ 37 billion deal inked in 2016 for France to provide Australia with 12 conventional submarines.

Check out latest videos from DH: