India and Australia strengthen defense ties and maritime cooperation at second ministerial dialogue
NEW DELHI, June 1 — Raksha Mantri Rajnath Singh and Australian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Defence Richard Marles co-chaired the second edition of the India-Australia Defence Ministers’ Dialogue at the Manekshaw Centre in New Delhi today.
The two leaders welcomed the significant progress in the bilateral relationship, reflecting on enhanced consultation and cooperation since the inaugural dialogue held on October 9, 2025.
The ministers advanced a long-term vision to enhance collective strength, contribute to mutual security, and promote regional peace, while welcoming progress toward renewing and strengthening the Joint Declaration on Defence and Security Cooperation.During the dialogue, both sides discussed advancements in bilateral maritime security cooperation and efforts to finalize the Joint Maritime Security Collaboration Roadmap.
They agreed to progress collaborative maritime domain awareness activities by maritime patrol aircraft and explore opportunities to enhance undersea domain awareness. Further cooperation was also encouraged between the Indian Coast Guard and Australia’s Maritime Border Command.
The ministers affirmed the importance of enhancing cooperation with regional partners to help maintain a free, open, peaceful, stable, and prosperous Indo-Pacific, underscoring the critical importance of freedom of navigation, overflight, and unimpeded trade in accordance with international law, particularly the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.As co-leads of the Indian Ocean Rim Association Working Group on Maritime Safety and Security, India and Australia look forward to jointly hosting a search and rescue tabletop exercise at the Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre in Chennai in June 2026. Building on the 2020 Mutual Logistics Support Arrangement, the two sides undertook to explore arrangements to enhance procedural interoperability and agreed to continue aircraft deployments from each other’s territories to build operational familiarity.
Additionally, the ministers announced that India and Australia would begin developing a Memorandum of Understanding regarding the Provision of Defence Articles and Defence Services to deepen defense industrial collaboration. They welcomed previous milestones, including Australia’s first defense trade mission to India and the Australia-India Defence Industry Roundtable held in October 2025, and agreed to explore further exchanges through the Joint Working Group on Defence Industry, Research, and Materiel.
The ministers also expressed a keen interest in exploring future defense science and technology research cooperation in emerging areas like sensor technologies, with Marles inviting India to participate in the 2026 Australian Defence Science, Technology, and Research Summit. Appreciating the growing engagement between their defense forces, both leaders looked forward to India’s enhanced participation in Exercise Talisman Sabre 2027.
They welcomed Australia’s participation in India’s Exercise Milan in February 2026 and India’s participation in Australia’s Exercise Kakadu in March 2026, while looking forward to joining each other’s multinational air exercises later this year, including operationalizing the bilateral Implementing Arrangement on Air-to-Air Refueling during Exercise Pitch Black.The two sides noted with satisfaction the expansion of military cooperation into new operational areas, welcoming the evolution of Army Exercise Austrahind to focus on amphibious combat and littoral maneuver.
Australia welcomed India’s inaugural participation in Operation Render Safe 2026, while India welcomed Australia’s invitation to participate in the submarine rescue exercise Black Carillon. The ministers also praised increased information sharing between operational headquarters, looking forward to the inaugural Joint Staff Talks later this year and advancing secure bilateral communications through subject matter exchanges.
On training cooperation, officials were encouraged to finalize arrangements for deploying an Indian visiting instructor at the Australian Defence College in 2028-2029 to strengthen professional military engagement.Finally, the ministers welcomed the growing strategic convergence among Australia, India, Japan, and the United States in the Indo-Pacific. Reaffirming their commitment to maritime domain awareness, both sides expressed strong support for the Quad Indo-Pacific Maritime Surveillance Collaboration initiative, to be implemented initially in the Indian Ocean Region.
The dialogue concluded with praise for India’s operationalization of the Indian Ocean Region program of the Quad Indo-Pacific Partnership for Maritime Domain Awareness through the Information Fusion Centre in Gurugram, with both nations agreeing to work toward developing a Common Operational Picture across the Indo-Pacific.