New Delhi, June 1
Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and Australian Deputy Prime Minister & Minister for Defence Richard Marles co-chaired the second edition of India-Australia Defence Ministers’ Dialogue at Manekshaw Centre, New Delhi today. The two Ministers welcomed the significant progress in the bilateral relationship and reflected on the enhanced consultation & cooperation since the inaugural edition of the dialogue on October 9, 2025.
The Ministers advanced their Prime Ministers’ long-term vision for collaboration between the two countries to enhance collective strength, contribute to both countries’ security, and make an important contribution to regional peace & security. They welcomed the progress towards realising their Prime Ministers’ commitment to renew and strengthen the Joint Declaration on Defence and Security Cooperation.
The two sides discussed advancements in bilateral maritime security cooperation and efforts to finalise the Joint Maritime Security Collaboration Roadmap. They agreed to progress the collaborative maritime domain awareness activities by maritime patrol aircraft and explore opportunities to enhance undersea domain awareness. They also encouraged further cooperation between the Indian Coast Guard and Australia’s Maritime Border Command.
The Ministers affirmed the importance of enhancing cooperation with regional partners to help maintain a free, open, peaceful, stable and prosperous Indo-Pacific. They underscored the importance of freedom of navigation and overflight, and their strong support for unimpeded trade in the region & other lawful uses of the sea consistent with international law, particularly the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).
India and Australia, as co-leads of the Indian Ocean Rim Association Working Group on Maritime Safety and Security, look forward to jointly hosting a Search & Rescue and tabletop Exercise at the Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre, Chennai in June 2026 to strengthen maritime safety and security cooperation in the Indian Ocean Region. The two sides undertook to explore arrangements to enhance procedural interoperability for exercises and operations, building on the 2020 Mutual Logistics Support Arrangement. They also agreed to continue aircraft deployment from each other’s territories to build operational familiarity.
The Ministers announced that India and Australia would begin developing a Memorandum of Understanding regarding the Provision of Defence Articles and Defence Services as the next step in deepening defence industrial collaboration. They underscored the strategic importance of defence industrial collaboration and engagement, while welcoming Australia’s first defence trade mission to India and Australia-India Defence Industry Roundtable, both in October 2025, as a reflection of growth in the bilateral defence industry relationship. The two sides agreed to explore further exchanges including through the Joint Working Group on Defence Industry, Research, and Materiel.
Both the Ministers looked forward to exploring future defence science and technology research cooperation in new technology areas like sensor technologies. The Australian Deputy Prime Minister invited India to participate in the 2026 Australian Defence Science, Technology, and Research Summit.
The Ministers appreciated the growing engagement between their defence forces, and looked forward to India’s enhanced participation in Exercise Talisman Sabre 2027. They welcomed Australia’s participation in India’s Exercise Milan in February 2026, and India’s participation in Australia’s Exercise Kakadu in March 2026. They looked forward to their countries’ participation in each other’s multinational air exercises in 2026, including operationalising the bilateral Implementing Arrangement on Air-to-Air Refuelling at Exercise Pitch Black.
The two sides noted with satisfaction the expansion of military cooperation into new areas. They welcomed the evolution of Army Exercise Austrahind this year to focus on amphibious combat and littoral manoeuvre. Australia welcomed India’s inaugural participation in Operation Render Safe 2026. India welcomed Australia’s invitation for participation in submarine rescue exercise Black Carillon.
The Ministers welcomed increased information sharing between operational headquarters. They looked forward to the inaugural Joint Staff Talks later this year. They acknowledged the importance of secure bilateral communications at the strategic, operational, and tactical levels and welcomed progressing these efforts through subject matter exchanges.
On training cooperation, the two leaders encouraged their officials to finalise arrangements for deployment of an Indian visiting instructor at the Australian Defence College in 2028-2029 to strengthen professional military engagement, knowledge exchange, and strategic alignment. The Ministers welcomed the growing strategic convergence among Australia, India, Japan and the United States in the Indo-Pacific.
India and Australia reaffirmed their commitment to enhancing collaboration on maritime domain awareness to increase interoperability among the partners. The Ministers expressed strong support for the Quad Indo-Pacific Maritime Surveillance Collaboration initiative to be implemented initially in the Indian Ocean Region as well as through subject matter expert exchanges and tabletop exercises.
The two sides welcomed India’s operationalisation of the Indian Ocean Region programme of the Quad Indo-Pacific Partnership for Maritime Domain Awareness through the Information Fusion Centre – Indian Ocean Region in Gurugram. They agreed to work to develop a Common Operational Picture across the Indo-Pacific by drawing upon the existing Indo-Pacific Partnership for Maritime Domain Awareness efforts.
