India and France are in discussions for a bilateral tri-service military exercise to take forward the strategic cooperation while also exploring ways to operationalise the logistics agreement. These issues were discussed during the visit of Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman to Paris last week.
“We have agreed on a bilateral tri-service exercise with France. The modalities are being worked out and it is likely to be held next year,” an official source said on Monday.
This will be India’s third such joint exercise. The first joint tri-service exercise was held with Russia in October last year and has finalised one with the U.S. to be held next year.
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India and France currently hold bilateral exercises between individual services — Shakti, Varuna and Garuda respectively for the Army, Navy and Air Force.
India and France signed a logistics pact in March this year which gives access to their militaries to each other’s bases for logistics support. While the agreement gives India access to French military bases all over the world on a “reciprocal basis,” of particular interest for New Delhi are the three French bases in the Indian Ocean — Reunion Island, Djibouti and Abu Dhabi.
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Ms. Sitharaman and her French counterpart Florence Parly discussed “how to operationalise it and make it happen.” “While the agreement has been signed, we now have to identify specific aspects to implement it,” the source added.
These three bases would give the Indian Navy and the Air Force operational turnaround to the far end of the Indian Ocean, improving its monitoring and surveillance of the region, in the backdrop of increased Chinese presence in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR).
India has signed a series of logistics agreements recently beginning with the Logistics Exchange Memorandum of Agreement (LEMOA) with the U.S., which will increase its operational footprint in the IOR.