New Delhi: India and France have established a defense industrial partnership roadmap that would provide for the co-development and co-production of key military hardware and platforms and facilitate technology collaboration in various areas including space, land warfare, cyberspace, and artificial intelligence.
The roadmap, which reflects a shared commitment to enhancing strategic cooperation, was announced by Foreign Secretary Vinay Kwatra after the talks between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and French President Emmanuel Macron in Jaipur on Thursday night.
Kwatra said the roadmap would identify opportunities and collaboration in the defence-industrial sector, particularly in high-tech fields such as robotics, AI, and cyber defence. He also said that the Tatas and Airbus Helicopters have entered into an industrial partnership to produce H125 choppers with significant indigenous components. The H125 is a single-engine light utility helicopter that excels in high-and-hot and extreme environments.
He said an MoU was sealed between New Space India Ltd and France’s Arianespace for cooperation in satellite launches and advancing space exploration initiatives. Arianespace is a leading launch service provider that operates the Ariane, Vega, and Soyuz rockets.
