In recent months, India's military diplomacy has intensified with consecutive exercises involving countries from around the world for all three Services.
What is Military Diplomacy?
- Also known as Defense Diplomacy, it refers to pursuing foreign policy objectives through the peaceful employment of defense resources and capabilities.
- India’s military diplomacy involves contributing to UN peacekeeping, providing humanitarian assistance, conducting joint exercises, etc.
What are the significances of Military Diplomacy?
- Building trust and confidence: Regular dialogue and military exchanges can help reduce mistrust and likelihood of conflicts.
- Strengthening alliances and partnerships: Defense cooperation agreements, technology transfers, and joint military drills, etc., can result in greater collaboration in regional security architectures. e.g., QUAD Security Dialogue.
- Defense modernization and capabilities: Through transfer of technology, knowledge sharing, and training. e.g., Joint development of BrahMos missiles by India and Russia.
- Others: Strategic balancing in geopolitically sensitive regions; enhanced soft power through humanitarian aids, etc.
Challenges in India’s Military Diplomacy: Balancing strategic partnerships with major global powers like the US and Russia, ‘Big Brother’ perception among South Asian nations, capacity gaps in terms of domestic manufacturing capabilities, etc.
India’s proactive engagements—through military exercises, capacity building, and peacekeeping operations—demonstrate its commitment to fostering security cooperation and shaping future security architecture of Indo-Pacific and beyond.
Recent/ scheduled Military Exercises
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