India’s Military Modernisation: Role and Impact of France

Abstract

India’s vision for Atmanirbhar Bharat adopted in 2020 attempts to make the country and its citizens self-reliant in all aspects. India, being the third largest military spender after the US and China, has also worked towards achieving self-reliance in defence production while maintaining a constant push towards ‘Make in India’. The Indian embassy in Paris has reiterated France’s commitment and complete support to India’s vision of self-reliance in areas of defence industrialisation, joint research, and development in India across a broad spectrum of advanced capabilities. The first part of the article examines the historical background of evolving security relationship between India and France, analysing defence and security cooperation as a principal pillar of their Strategic Partnership. The second part of the article attempts to study the impact of France on India’s military modernisation through the transfer of resources and technology, and through co-development and co-production of equipment. It tracks France’s role in assisting India to reduce dependence on Russia for their military hardware requirements, in its path towards indigenous defence production. The concluding part of the article extrapolates the findings onto the future in order to examine the challenges faced by India in its attempt towards military modernisation. It also seeks to examine challenges in the partnership between the two actors and its impact on France’s role in India’s defence modernisation.