India, UK Agree To Co-Produce Military Hardware During Virtual Summit

India and UK will work in a strategic partnership to strengthen efforts to tackle cyber, space, crime and terrorist threats and develop a free, open and secure Indo-Pacific region, a 10-year roadmap mentioned.

In a major move, India and the UK on Tuesday vowed to expand bilateral defence cooperation, including through technology collaboration in developing combat aircraft and complex weapons, during a virtual summit between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his British counterpart Boris Johnson. A 10-year roadmap, unveiled at the summit for boosting overall India-UK ties, mentioned that the two countries will strengthen cooperation to take "decisive and concerted actions" against globally proscribed terrorists and terror entities. The roadmap also mentioned broadening dialogue on "combat air collaboration to determine how the UK can support India's ambitions for their light combat air MK2 programme". The two sides also agreed to increase maritime co-operation during their talks while India invited the UK's liaison officer to the Indian Navy's information fusion centre, a key facility that keeps a hawk-eyed vigil on developments and movement of ships in the Indian Ocean region.