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| Photo credit: ANI |
India and France have agreed to adopt a Defence Industrial Roadmap, which aims to identify opportunities for co-development, co-production, and co-design in the defence industrial sector.
India and France have a significant and multifaceted relationship characterized by cooperation in various fields including defense, economy, culture, and strategic partnerships. Both countries have a robust defense relationship, marked by the sale and joint development of military equipment. The Rafale fighter jet deal is one of the most notable examples of this cooperation.
The French president is the sixth French leader to be the chief guest at the Republic Day celebrations at Kartavya Path on Friday. Both countries adopted a Roadmap on Defence Industrial Cooperation as Prime Minister Narendra Modi held talks with visiting French President and Republic Day chief guest Emmanuel Macron on 26, january. Let us know what this roadmap about?
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What this defence industrial roadmap includes?
The roadmap as Foreign Secretary Vinay Kwatra, underlined that, they will identify opportunities in co-design, co-development and co-production in the defence industrial sector and it will cover a range of spheres: air and space technology, maritime tech, underwater domain awareness, land warfare, robotics, artificial intelligence, autonomous vehicles and cyber defence.
"The whole idea is to build the defence supply chains between two countries so that they can not only fulfil the defence needs in India but also can be a useful contributor for the security partnership with other countries,” said Kwatra. “The focus of conversation is on defence production.”
He added that the two sides also agreed on a roadmap on space and a pact between Tata and Airbus on making H-125 single-engine helicopters.
The year 2026 was declared as the Year of India-France Innovation, with plans to roll out a 'Young Professionals' scheme for citizens of both countries in the age group of 18-35. Additionally, agreements were signed in the areas of science and technology, clean energy, applied mathematics, and precision agriculture.
Kwatra said an MoU was signed between New Space India Ltd and France’s Arianespace for cooperation in satellite launches. He said that cooperation in space will implicate space situational awareness, collision avoidance, earth monitoring, communications and broadcasting, and satellite launching services.
So this roadmap covers a range of domains, including air and space technology, maritime technology, underwater domain awareness, land warfare, robotics, artificial intelligence, autonomous vehicles, and cyber defence. The focus of the cooperation is on defence production, with the goal of building defence supply chains between the two countries.
(Source: Indian Express)