Saturday, March 29, 2025
Canberra, October 10, 2025 — India and Australia on Thursday pledged to deepen their bilateral defence cooperation and military interoperability, signing three significant agreements during Defence Minister Rajnath Singh’s official visit to Canberra. This marks the first visit by an Indian Defence Minister to Australia since 2014.
The new agreements cover classified information sharing, joint submarine search-and-rescue cooperation, and the establishment of a joint staff dialogue mechanism. Both countries are also working on a comprehensive maritime security cooperation roadmap and a new long-term defence framework to replace the 2009 security pact.
The high-level talks between Rajnath Singh and Australian Defence Minister Richard Marles come at a time when the Trump administration has signaled a reduced U.S. commitment to its Indo-Pacific strategy against China, prompting India to strengthen regional defence partnerships with Australia, Japan, South Korea, and the Philippines.
During the meeting, the ministers underlined the importance of maintaining a free, open, stable, and prosperous Indo-Pacific. They stressed the need to reinforce regional cooperation, safeguard freedom of navigation, ensure secure overflights, and protect uninterrupted trade routes. Both sides also discussed enhancing maritime domain awareness among Quad members and preparations for the upcoming Malabar naval exercise.
Richard Marles called China the biggest security challenge for both India and Australia. Echoing this, Rajnath Singh emphasized global unity against terrorism, stating, “Terrorism and dialogue cannot go together. Terrorism and trade cannot go together. Water and blood cannot flow together.”
India and Australia already operate under the 2020 Military Logistics Support Agreement (MLSA), which allows reciprocal access to each other’s bases. Building on this, the two countries have now implemented an air-to-air refuelling agreement between their air forces.
As part of his visit, Rajnath Singh was shown a live demonstration where a KC-30A multi-role transport tanker aircraft refuelled an advanced F-35 fighter jet mid-air — a significant symbol of the growing trust and operational synergy between the two nations.
Following the talks, Rajnath Singh wrote on X (formerly Twitter): “We reviewed the full spectrum of India-Australia partnership, including defence industries, cyber security, maritime cooperation, and regional challenges. We reiterated our Comprehensive Strategic Partnership.”
India’s growing outreach in the Indo-Pacific comes after Prime Minister Narendra Modi signed a joint security declaration with Japan on August 29, underscoring New Delhi’s strategy to counterbalance China’s assertive stance in the region through stronger regional alignments.
