During Australian Deputy Prime Minister and Defense Minister Richard Marles’ visit to New Delhi on June 3-4, India and Australia agreed to deepen and diversify defense industry collaboration amid rising security challenges in the Indo-Pacific region. Marles’ visit to Delhi was the third leg of his swing through South and Southeast Asia as part of Australia’s commitment to “deepening diplomatic and defense partnerships in the Indo-Pacific.”
As the two countries mark five years of the Australia-India Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, it is evident that there has been a remarkable uptick in bilateral relations. In particular, defense ties between India and Australia have grown at an exceptional pace in recent years, emerging as one of the key pillars cementing the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership. This is a far cry from the days of the Cold War, when India and Australia were on opposite sides.
Australia now views India as a “top-tier defense partner.” Much of this is due to the convergence of interests between India and Australia, especially on the challenge posed by a rising China to India and Australia individually as well as to other countries in the Indo-Pacific.
Both India and Australia rely heavily on trade via sea routes and hence are unanimous in their call for a free, open, rules-based Indo-Pacific region. A peaceful and stable Indo-Pacific is also a shared objective among the Quad countries: Australia, India, Japan, and the United States.
There was no mention of China by name in India’s official readout after the talks, but the statement said that Singh and Marles exchanged views on “regional and global security issues of mutual interest.”
“The two Ministers welcomed the signing of the Australia-India Joint Research Project and agreed to intensify and diversify defense industry collaboration,” the Indian statement said. “The meeting offered an opportunity to both sides to review the status of bilateral engagements in the context of emerging regional and global scenarios. The discussions covered a wide range of issues such as defense strategic cooperation and security, including industry collaboration, cyber and new emerging technologies, counter-terrorism, hydrography and maritime security.”
Neither side has provided details on the defense industry collaboration. India, the world’s second-largest arms importer, has unveiled an ambitious “Make in India” program that encourages domestic industry to manufacture defense hardware. The U.S., Israel, France, and Russia have been the countries that India has relied on for defense hardware purchases.
As noted by security analysts Gaurav Saini and Kim Heriot-Darragh in an article in The Hindu, many Australian defense firms are subsidiaries of global original equipment manufacturers with licenses held by the parent companies (in the U.S., for example). India could already be sourcing defense equipment from these companies; hence, opportunities for collaboration in this area may be limited. However, there is scope for cooperation in the small and medium enterprises sector, given that they are at the “forefront of cutting-edge technologies” in India and Australia and “their outputs in components and dual-use technologies make them ideal to work with each other,” Saini and Heriot-Darragh pointed out.
There is already plenty of cooperation between the armed forces of the two countries, facilitated by agreements like the Mutual Logistics Support Agreement, which helps streamline logistical support during joint exercises and humanitarian missions. There is also the air-to-air refueling pact concluded last year. Both these extend the operational reach of the Indian military far beyond its shores.
Bilateral military exercises like AUSTRAHIND (Army) and AUSINDEX (Navy) and multilateral exercises like Pitch Black and Malabar add to the relationship-building between the militaries of the two countries.
At an event in New Delhi on June 4 to mark the fifth anniversary of the two states’ Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, India’s External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar provided a glimpse of the transformation that Australia-India ties have undergone in recent years.
“A decade ago, if I had stood here and told you all that Australia would actually be amongst our closest political friends, our strongest security partners, a country with whom we would have a Free Trade Agreement, whose University would be among the first to actually set up an establishment in India – in fact if I told you that we would have many more things to discuss other than cricket – I don’t think any of you would have believed me,” Jaishankar said, going on to point out that since 2020, however, India and Australia have “seen an enormous deepening and diversification” of cooperation.
The two countries have established the practice of holding annual summits between their prime ministers as well as joint meetings of their defense and foreign ministers known as the “2+2,” he said. There is a joint commission to discuss matters of trade, besides separate commissions to discuss skill development, education, and energy cooperation. The two countries have recently concluded key agreements, including the Australia-India Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement that entered into force in December 2022; there is another pact on mobility and migration, besides one on mutual recognition of educational qualifications. Then there is the Australia-India Critical Minerals Investment Partnership, signed in 2022, that seeks to make available critical minerals for India’s growing clean energy needs. It involves collaboration in research, project identification, and potential investments in Australian critical minerals projects, especially lithium and cobalt.
Marles’ visit and the intensification of Australia-India ties come amid major churn in the world, especially China’s rise, its competition with the U.S. in trade and strategic areas, including critical minerals and chip manufacture.
The Russia-Ukraine war and the Israel-Gaza war show no signs of ending. Then there is the uncertainty unleashed by U.S. President Donald Trump with the imposition of trade tariffs on friends and foes alike. His demand that allies increase their defense budgets and take on more of the security burden previously shouldered by the U.S. has also unsettled and upset many partners. Against this backdrop, some are questioning Trump’s commitments to longstanding security pacts and newer partnerships like the Quad. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s speech at the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore between May 30 and June 1 may have assuaged some concerns, but given Trump’s penchant to go back on his word, Hegseth’s assurances may not have been enough.
Amidst this global flux, India is stepping up its assistance footprint in the Indo-Pacific by delivering aid to Pacific Island states, for instance. On its part, Australia is extending its footprint into the Indian Ocean region. On June 2, Marles announced that Australia would gift a patrol boat to the Maldives. Interestingly, both the Pacific Islands and the Indian Ocean are regions where China has been increasingly boosting its presence.
Given these odds, India and Australia seem to have carefully made their choice to enhance their bilateral partnership to mitigate future risks.