Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to page 36 of the National Security Strategy 2025, CP 1338, published on 24 June 2025, whether he has made recent progress on developing capability under the defence partnership with India.

Defence Partnership India was formally launched in India at Aero India in February 2025. Since its inauguration there have been advancements in a range of capability areas across the air, maritime and land domains, as can be seen through the recent announcements from the Prime Minister’s visit to India earlier this month. For example, the Indian Army will procure THALES Lightweight Multirole Missiles through a Government-to-Government arrangement between our countries and both Prime Ministers were pleased to confirm the intent to finalise the Inter-Governmental agreement on cooperation in developing maritime electric propulsion systems to Indian Naval Platforms.