Washington, Sep 5 (IANS) France and India have steadily deepened their technological, economic and, particularly, military ties since the beginning of the century, with the two countries expanding defence cooperation through high-level visits, naval engagements and regular military exercises, a report has highlighted.
“Although France and India have maintained good relations since India achieved independence in 1947, their ties reached a turning point in 1998. That was when India conducted five nuclear tests, and Washington issued sanctions against India. France did not. Indeed, France upgraded its strategic relationship with India that year,” a report in leading American website ‘The Hill’ detailed.
“Since the turn of the century, France and India have increasingly strengthened their technological, economic and especially military relations. Apart from counterpart visits by leading military and civilian officials, as well as naval visits, the two countries have conducted bilateral naval exercises since 2001; air force exercises since 2003; army exercises since 2011. India has also participated in the French-led multinational Orion exercises,” it added.
India has emerged as a major market for French defence equipment, with its purchases including 36 Rafale fighter jets in 2016, 26 Rafale-M naval fighters in 2025 and an additional 114 Rafale aircraft in 2026. New Delhi also acquired the designs for six French Scorpene-class submarines in 2005, which were subsequently built in India. More recently, India placed an order with France for three additional submarines, the report mentioned.
“Last year the French Directorate General of Armaments and the Indian Defence Research and Development Organisation signed a broad-based agreement to deepen their collaboration. This included, among other areas, ‘aeronautical platforms, unmanned vehicles, advanced materials… cyber security, artificial intelligence … advanced sensors … [and] underwater technologies.’ The agreement built upon a long-term strategic plan that the two countries formulated in 2023, termed Horizon 2047,” it highlighted.
The report noted that following reciprocal visits by French President Emmanuel Macron and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and a recommendation from India’s Parliamentary Standing Committee on Defence, New Delhi and Paris recently began discussions on India’s participation in the French-led Future Combat Air System (FCAS), which aims to develop a sixth-generation fighter.
“ France lost its sale of Barracuda submarines to Australia because of the AUKUS agreement, which provided for a British-American solution to Canberra’s requirement for new submarines. India, ever suspicious of Pakistan, has resented Washington’s reliance upon Islamabad as a go-between in Washington’s on-again, off-again negotiations with Iran,” it said, highlighting the recent grievances of both countries regarding American policies.
–IANS
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