Rafale deals, defence tech and trade reshape a boundary-less partnership
A new chapter is opening in the India-France relationship with the latest face-to-face meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Emmanuel Macron. The ties have been elevated to a “Special Global Strategic Partnership”, furthering a friendship that is believed to “have no boundaries.”
The ties between the countries are also inextricably melded by the multi-role fighter jet Rafale of which India will be buying more, many of them with an ideally indigenous content as high as 50 per cent. Whatever may be the misgivings about the Rafale jets after Operation Sindoor in which at least one may have been shot down, India is operationally and strategically fused to the Rafale and more significantly, politically too.
The latest acquisition of more Rafales, some in flyaway condition, may be subject to price negotiations and other details, but it is the IAF aircraft of choice and loading them with nuclear capable missiles can be subject to only French government clearance which, considering the closeness of the ties, can be assumed. And the IAF, in need of more squadrons to fulfil strategic requirements, cannot be more pleased.
Beyond the flying machines which have assumed far greater significance in most modern warfare that is fought from the sky with airborne projectiles precluding the need to cross borders, the India-France ties are set to fly further thanks, of course, to the churn in global geopolitics triggered by the dawning realisation that the USA is no more the reliable ally that the West and others thought they had after World Wat II.
The leaders’ joint call for a new world order without hegemony in the wake of the huge roiling caused by the capricious handling of global trade with the US makes perfect sense even if all nations need to trade with the world’s largest economy though the old ways of doing so on the best possible terms may have disappeared with a change in the occupant of the White House.
In a quirky sort of way, India may even have to thank Mr Trump’s tariff tantrums for opening its eyes to trying to make deals with the rest of the world, as it has with various countries from New Zealand to Europe, where France is one of its most important partners. And not only in trade but now also in strategic areas in defence, science & technology and nuclear power, besides high speed rail networks in which France was an early world leader.
A French helicopter being made in an assembly line in Karnataka is said to be capable of flying at great heights to serve on India’s hilly northern borders, hence leading to the catchphrase that India-France ties can “reach from deep oceans to the tallest mountains”. The durability of those ties has never been in doubt as, even at the height of a global backlash over India’s first nuclear tests, France never followed the US and UK in censorious reprimand.
At a particularly busy time as India’s Prime Minister is engaging with multiple national leaders during the days of the AI summit in New Delhi, India’s diplomatic thrust has been in elevated mode. Even so, India would do well to thrash out the minute details of the trade deal with the US and ensure that the right to strategic autonomy which has brought the nation this far in a world buffeted by strong winds that are threatening to shake the old rules-based order is intact as are the crucially protected sectors of the Indian economy.
