By Fang Xiaozhi
Information came from the Indian Defense Research and Development Organization that Indian External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar planned to visit France in the near future to discuss with French Minister of the Armed Forces Florence Parly about the joint development of engines for India's "advanced mid-size fighters", a 5th-generation single-seat, double-engine stealth fighter that New Delhi is mulling. News has it that the two sides are likely to reach an official agreement within the next one month or two.
India and France have seen their defense relation warming up. After signing the Defense Cooperation Agreement in 2006, the two countries have intensified collaboration in military and diplomacy, defense industry, technology R&D, personnel training, and many other areas. The series of cooperation agreements they signed on March 10, 2018, also covered multiple domains such as defense and aerospace.
The strengthening defense cooperation is a result of the two countries' respective needs. With its growing overall national strength, India has a greater demand for modern weapons and equipment in recent years, represented by the upgrade of its fighters. However, limited in technological and industrial capabilities, it has to seek external support to achieve its goal. The US used to be a major weapon exporter for India, but it set rigorous rules on technology transfer, and especially after India insisted on buying Russia’s S-400 air defense missiles regardless of its warning, Washington declared not to provide India with core technology of new-type engines.
That leaves France one of the few countries willing to transfer weapon technologies to New Delhi. In February 2013, France's DCNS and India's Mazagon Dock Limited (MDL) signed a technology transfer agreement. On December 14, 2017, India's first Scorpene-class submarine INS Kalvari , made with France’s help, was commissioned. Now India’s quest for joint development of engines for its advanced mid-size fighters is again to gain advanced experience and technical support from Paris to pave the way for its independent R&D in the end.
On France's part, strengthening the strategic relationship with India and gaining access to its arms market has been a consensus shared by all its administrations. In recent years, French military industry complexes have made a fortune in India's arms market thanks to the frequent interactions between their political and military leaders. In January 2016, they signed an inter-governmental agreement on 36 Rafale fighter jets at a cost of USD 8.8 billion, the biggest order for French aviation and military industry ever. Still better, French company Dassault and Thales also landed a USD 2.4 billion project from Indian Air Force to upgrade their Mirage 2000 fighters.
Going forward, however, the military cooperation between India and France still faces many restrictions despite the upward and pragmatic trend. For instance, although New Delhi has a strong wish for external defense cooperation in order to “localize” its weapons and equipment, its weak defense industry doesn't give Paris enough confidence in the joint R&D.
Besides, France's defense cooperation with India is partly to expand its share in the Indian arms market and partly to augment its influence in the Indian Ocean and South Asian region, which may put New Delhi on alert because the latter always views those regions as its "backyard". Therefore, a substantial breakthrough in the bilateral defense relationship will be unlikely.
(The author is an associate professor at the College of International Studies, National University of Defense Technology)
