India’s Military Modernisation: Role and Impact of France
| Published date | 01 December 2023 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/23477970231207256 |
| Author | Shreya Sinha |
| Date | 01 December 2023 |
| Subject Matter | Research Articles |
Research Article
India’s Military
Modernisation:
Role and Impact
of France
Shreya Sinha1,2
Abstract
India’s vision for Atmanirbhar Bharat adopted in 2020 attempts to make the
country and its citizens self-reliant in all aspects. India, being the third largest military
spender after the US and China, has also worked towards achieving self-reliance
in defence production while maintaining a constant push towards ‘Make in India’.
The Indian embassy in Paris has reiterated France’s commitment and complete
support to India’s vision of self-reliance in areas of defence industrialisation,
joint research, and development in India across a broad spectrum of advanced
capabilities. The first part of the article examines the historical background of
evolving security relationship between India and France, analysing defence and
security cooperation as a principal pillar of their Strategic Partnership. The
second part of the article attempts to study the impact of France on India’s
military modernisation through the transfer of resources and technology, and
through co-development and co-production of equipment. It tracks France’s role
in assisting India to reduce dependence on Russia for their military hardware
requirements, in its path towards indigenous defence production. The concluding
part of the article extrapolates the findings onto the future in order to examine
the challenges faced by India in its attempt towards military modernisation. It
also seeks to examine challenges in the partnership between the two actors and
its impact on France’s role in India’s defence modernisation.
Keywords
Defence, security, military modernisation, India, France
Journal of Asian Security
and International Affairs
10(3) 325–341, 2023
© The Author(s) 2023
Article reuse guidelines:
in.sagepub.com/journals-permissions-india
DOI: 10.1177/23477970231207256
journals.sagepub.com/home/aia
1
Otto-Suhr Institut für Politikwissenschaft Freie Universität, Berlin, Germany
2
Centre for European Studies, School of International Studies Jawaharlal Nehru University,
New Delhi, India
Corresponding author:
Shreya Sinha, Centre for European Studies, School of International Studies Jawaharlal Nehru
University, New Delhi 110067, India.
E-mail: shreya1995@hotmail.com
326 Journal of Asian Security and International Affairs 10(3)
Introduction
France and India have developed a high level of convergence on a wide range
of issues, spanning from regional to global. With their close and friendly rela-
tions traditionally tracing back decades, the two actors entered into a Strategic
Partnership in 1998 and ever since have collaborated in areas of sustainable
growth, climate change, cyber governance, etc with defence and security relations
being a principal pillar of their partnership. As the twenty-first century began, the
strategic partnership between India and France grew even stronger and expanded
to encompass various areas, including defence acquisitions, civil nuclear collabo-
ration, and space exploration.
The joint efforts of India and France in security relations extend beyond
military ties to also include domains of maritime, space and civil nuclear areas
(Carin & Mehlenbacher, 2010). With the two actors entering into their third
decade of strategic partnership, it is important to note that several high-level
summits and bilateral political visits continue to take place as New Delhi and
Paris strengthen their mutual cooperation in areas such as defence, security, cyber-
security, digital economy, space security, and also the European Union.
Defence cooperation has now become a fundamental aspect of the Indo-French
Strategic Partnership. Both nations have an annual Ministerial level Defence dia-
logue that has been in place since 2018. Additionally, all the three security ser-
vices participate in periodic defence exercises, such as Exercise Shakti (Army),
Exercise Garuda (Air Force) and Exercise Varuna (Navy). The French-led La
Pérouse exercise in April 2021 also witnessed participation and engagement by
the Indian Navy. Their partnership further includes staff courses, training pro-
grams, and other joint activities. In 2016, an inter-governmental agreement was
signed by the Indian Government with the Government of France to purchase
36 Rafale multi-role fighter aircraft from Dassault Aviation. All the aircraft have
been delivered to India, and the formal induction ceremony for the first five
was held in September 2020, attended by French Armed Forces Minister
Florence Parly.
The Rafale deal signed between France and India and the subsequent military
acquisition of the fighter jets in the backdrop of a volatile geo-strategic environment
between India and China and their tense armed combat situation in Ladakh is a
prime example of augmenting India’s air power and military defence. The
occurrence of clashes at the Galwan Valley in June 2020 represented a significant
shift in India’s relationship with China. Despite already having a strained and
problematic relationship with China, the fatal clashes resulted in the loss of 20
Indian soldiers and had a profound impact on the bilateral ties of both nations. As
a result, India expedited the process of re-evaluation of its strategic positioning.
It was the need of the hour for New Delhi to actively pursue other extra-
regional alliances to strengthen its position in the South Asian region. The
induction of the Rafale fighters is therefore much welcome as they would form
the backbone of the Indian Air Force in its operations against the People’s
Liberation Army of China. The 36 Rafales have now been completely inducted
and being the most potent in the entire Asian region, they have played a pivotal
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