Edited by Deepali Verma
The UK government on January 10 got vocal about its plans to deploy Royal Navy warships to the Indian Ocean region later this year to both operate and train with Indian forces, signalling what it described as the increasing significance of the strategic relationship between the two countries.
Defence Secretary Grant Shapps, who co-chaired an India-UK Defence Industry CEOs Roundtable with the visiting Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on January 10 following their bilateral talks earlier, said that the Littoral Response Group (LRG) will undergo deployment this year and the Carrier Strike Group (CRG) in 2025 for joint India-UK training.
The deployment of the UK’s most advanced naval capabilities has been announced by the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) as a crucial step in promoting UK-India security ties.
The LRG is a Royal Navy task group that contains at least two amphibious warfare ships while the CRG is the part of the aircraft carrier battle group of the Royal Navy. The CRG’s inaugural deployment was back in 2021 in the Indo-Pacific, where it was responsible for conducting joint exercises with the Indian forces.
“A wonderful interaction was held with the industry leaders and CEOs at the UK-India Defence CEO Roundtable in London,” Defence Minister Singh posted on X post the conference.
“Bharat looks to continue an enriching partnership with the UK to cooperate, co-create and co-innovate. By combining the strengths of both the countries, we can establish great things together,” he remarked.
The MoD expounds on the latest deployment being reflective of a stepped-up partnership during the Indian Defence Minister’s first visit to the UK this week.
In the coming years, the UK and Bharat also aspire to embark on more complex and collaborative exercises between their respective militaries, building up to a landmark joint exercise to be conducted before the end of 2030, supporting shared goals of protecting critical trade routes and upholding the international rules-based system, according to the release.
The conversation between the two senior ministers dealt with the topics of future cooperation in defence, from joint exercises to knowledge sharing and instructor exchanges, which build on the comprehensive strategic partnership envisaged in the 2030 India-UK Roadmap.
“Collaborative efforts to maintain strategic defence partnership between the UK and Bharat is critical and the two nations are working together on electric propulsion systems that will power our future fleets and cooperating on the development of complex weapons,” a quote from Shapps’ address.
To further build on the existing strategic partnership, some new joint initiatives were announced by the MoD during Singh’s UK visit include Launching Defence Partnership-India, a bespoke office to put in place to further defence collaboration between the two countries. Additionally, there is a commitment to several instructor exchanges between UK Officer Training Colleges and specialist schools, alongside a Youth Exchange MOU to cement the already solid relationship between our cadet organisations.
A Letter of Arrangement, another new initiative, that will facilitate the emphasis to be placed on research and development among the two nations, to focus on next-generation capabilities. They also look forward to cementing an agreement on logistics exchange, permitting for the provision of logistic support, supplies and services between the United Kingdom and Indian Armed Forces, for joint training, joint exercises, authorised port visits and Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR) operations.
Singh arrived in London on January 8 and has been a part of a series of engagements besides bilateral talks with his UK counterpart. He will engage with the Bharatiya community at a diaspora reception to conclude his official visit on the evening of January 10.
