Indian and France will strengthen their strategic defence relationship with the Indian Navy’s Boeing P-8I frontline mission aircraft and French Navy’s Falcon 50 planes carrying out joint surveillance and ocean mapping of the Mozambique Channel, Mauritius and South-West Indian Ocean from November 9-11.
The joint surveillance will focus on the common aim of the two strategic allies to combat piracy, drug trafficking, arms smuggling and keeping track of the presence of extraneous powers on the eastern seaboard of Africa as part of maritime security cooperation, according to a report in the Hindustan Times.
The development also comes at a time when Chinese surveillance and ballistic missile tracking ship Yuan Wang 6 is currently sailing in the Indian Ocean south of Indonesia.
The Indian and French Navies will be conducting the ocean bed mapping and area patrol around French Reunion Islands for the second time this year after having carried out a similar exercise on the eastern board of Africa in March 2022.
The strategic bilateral ties between the two allies will get a further boost as the Defence Minister of France Sebastian Lecornu will be visiting India for two days from November 28 to hold talks with Defence Minister Rajnath Singh.
Defence Minister Lecornu will also be meeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar and National Security Advisor Ajit Doval.
The bilateral defence ties between the two countries have been growing stronger with close defence ties with France committed to India for jointly developing aircraft engines, aircraft, submarines, and missiles under the “Aatmanirbhar Bharat” programme with the participation of the Indian private sector.
France has agreed to jointly develop and manufacture higher thrust aircraft engines with India and French company Safran will be the lead partner. It is also ready to help India in joint design, development and manufacture of long-range submarines and missiles.
The joint Navy surveillance of the Indian Ocean will follow the inter-operability air force exercise involving fighter jets that the two the two countries have just concluded in Rajasthan.
General Stephane Mille, Chief of Staff of the French Air and Space Force, who had also arrived for the exercise met India’s Chief of Air Staff Air Chief Marshal VR Chaudhari to discuss ways and means to enhance bilateral ties and strengthen cooperation in areas of mutual interest.
Millie also held discussions with India’s Vice Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral SN Ghormade on matters of defence cooperation, bilateral ops engagements and mitigation of security concerns in the Indian Ocean Region.