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Defence Secretary Rajesh Kumar Singh and the UK's Permanent Under Secretary for Defence, Jeremy Pocklington, co-chaired the 25th India-UK Defence Consultative Group meeting in New Delhi on 21 August 2026 - Pocklington's first India visit in that capacity.
The two sides reviewed defence industrial cooperation with emphasis on research and development, under the India-UK Vision 2035 and the Ten Year Defence Industrial Roadmap, and agreed to expand joint exercises, training and capacity building.
They acknowledged maritime security collaboration in the Indo-Pacific, including the establishment of the Regional Maritime Security Centre of Excellence (RMSCE) under the Indo-Pacific Oceans Initiative.
Alongside the talks the UK side laid a wreath at the National War Memorial, visited Gandhi Smriti Museum and the National Defence College, and held a bilateral interaction with the Chief of Defence Staff, General NS Raja Subramani.
Principal military adviser to the Defence Minister on tri-service matters and permanent Chairman of the Chiefs of Staff Committee; also functions as Secretary, Department of Military Affairs in the Ministry of Defence.
India-UK construct under the Maritime Security pillar of IPOI, which the two countries co-chair; intended to help Indian Ocean states build capacity against non-traditional maritime security threats and to serve as a hub for knowledge exchange and standardisation among practitioners.
India's highest seat of strategic learning, running a course on national security and strategy for senior military officers and civil servants from India and partner countries.
National memorial to soldiers who died in service after Independence; the standard site at which visiting foreign defence dignitaries lay a wreath.
The Indo-Pacific Oceans Initiative was announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the 14th East Asia Summit at Bangkok on 4 November 2019. It is deliberately not a treaty and creates no binding obligations: interested countries volunteer to lead or co-lead one of its seven thematic pillars and bring their own resources to it. The seven pillars are maritime security; maritime ecology; maritime resources; capacity building and resource sharing; disaster risk reduction and management; science, technology and academic cooperation; and trade connectivity and maritime transport. India and the UK co-chair the maritime security pillar, and the RMSCE is that pillar's flagship deliverable - which is why a bilateral defence dialogue ends up reporting on a multilateral initiative.
Simple Analogy: IPOI works like an open-source project with seven modules: India set up the repository, and any country that wants to can take ownership of a module and contribute to it, without signing a contract.
Steer the bilateral relationship for a decade through a focused, time-bound programme of action.
Key: Endorsed by Prime Ministers Narendra Modi and Keir Starmer in London on 24 July 2025. It is built on five pillars - growth and the economy, technology and innovation, defence and security, climate action, and education.
Move India-UK defence ties from buyer-seller transactions to co-design, co-development and co-production of advanced technologies.
Key: Adopted under Vision 2035; priority areas include jet engine technology, naval propulsion and underwater systems, and directed energy weapons, with named workstreams such as the Electric Propulsion Capability Partnership and Jet Engine Advanced Core Technologies.
Liberalise goods and services trade between India and the UK and support the goal of doubling bilateral trade to USD 100 billion by 2030, first set in the India-UK Roadmap 2030 of 2021.
Key: Signed on 24 July 2025 in London - the same day Vision 2035 was endorsed - by Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal and the UK's Secretary of State for Business and Trade Jonathan Reynolds; it entered into force on 15 July 2026. The UK grants zero duty on close to 99% of Indian tariff lines, while India offers concessions on about 89.5% of its own tariff lines.
Bilateral maritime exercise between the Indian Navy and the UK's Royal Navy to build interoperability across surface, sub-surface and air domains.
Key: First held in 2004; conducted alternately in Indian and UK waters. The 2025 edition was the first to bring both navies' carrier strike groups together, with INS Vikrant and HMS Prince of Wales.
Biennial joint military training between the Indian Army and the British Army, focused on counter-terrorism in semi-urban terrain under a UN mandate.
Key: The 8th edition was held from 17 to 30 November 2025 at the Foreign Training Node, Mahajan Field Firing Ranges, Rajasthan.
India announces the Indo-Pacific Oceans Initiative at the 14th East Asia Summit, Bangkok.
India-UK Roadmap 2030 sets the goal of doubling bilateral trade to USD 100 billion by 2030.
Prime Ministers Modi and Starmer endorse India-UK Vision 2035 and sign the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement in London; the Ten Year Defence Industrial Roadmap follows under Vision 2035.
8th edition of Exercise AJEYA WARRIOR at Mahajan Field Firing Ranges, Rajasthan.
India-UK CETA enters into force.
25th India-UK Defence Consultative Group meeting, New Delhi.
The release records both sides reaffirming a commitment to 'mutual security and strategic autonomy' - the phrase India uses to signal that deepening defence ties with a Western partner does not imply alignment, a point examiners like to test through statement-based questions.
IPOI sits alongside SAGAR, the Indian Ocean Rim Association, the Information Fusion Centre-Indian Ocean Region and the Quad's maritime domain awareness work; distinguishing India-led from partner-led constructs is a standard exam demand.
The shift from purchase to co-design and co-production under the Ten Year Roadmap connects to Atmanirbhar Bharat in defence, the positive indigenisation lists and the Defence Acquisition Procedure.
A Defence Consultative Group is the secretary-level dialogue that keeps a defence relationship on schedule between leader-level summits - the same function the 2+2 ministerial dialogue performs for India's ties with the US, Japan and Australia.
GS Paper 2 > International Relations > Bilateral, Regional and Global Groupings involving India
General Awareness > Defence Exercises and Bilateral Defence Cooperation
General Awareness > Current Affairs and Defence Exercises
India-UK defence exercises and Indo-Pacific frameworks appear most years in UPSC Prelims and in defence and SSC general awareness.
The standing India-UK defence dialogue at Defence Secretary / Permanent Under Secretary level; its 25th meeting was held on 21 August 2026.
The senior civil servant heading the UK Ministry of Defence, the UK counterpart to India's Defence Secretary.
Indo-Pacific Oceans Initiative - India's open, non-treaty framework of seven maritime pillars announced in 2019.
Regional Maritime Security Centre of Excellence - an India-UK centre under IPOI's maritime security pillar, being set up at the National Maritime Foundation, New Delhi, with King's College London.
The ten-year India-UK bilateral framework endorsed on 24 July 2025, built on five pillars including defence and security.