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With India moving ahead with the nearly Rs 1 lakh crore Project-75 India programme to build six advanced submarines at Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Ltd (MDL), Defence Minister Rajnath Singh will travel to Germany from April 21 to 23 to deepen defence-industrial cooperation between the two countries.
India is in the final stages of signing the submarine deal with technology transfer (ToT) from ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems (TKMS), which will feature advanced Air-Independent Propulsion (AIP) for enhanced endurance; however, it is not expected to be signed during the visit.
During the three-day visit, Singh will hold bilateral talks with his German counterpart Boris Pistorius, with a focus on expanding collaboration in defence manufacturing and emerging technology domains.
Officials said the visit is expected to culminate in the signing of a Defence Industrial Cooperation Roadmap, alongside an implementing arrangement on cooperation in training for United Nations peacekeeping operations. The agreements are aimed at institutionalising long-term engagement between the two sides, particularly in areas where India is seeking technology partnerships to boost domestic production.
Talks between the two ministers will centre on strengthening military-to-military engagements and scaling up industrial collaboration, with particular emphasis on cyber security, artificial intelligence and drone technologies, sectors increasingly seen as critical to future warfare capabilities.
Beyond government-level discussions, Singh is also expected to engage with senior representatives of the German defence industry to push for joint development and co-production under the Make in India initiative. The outreach is part of New Delhi’s broader effort to reduce import dependence while securing advanced technologies through strategic partnerships.
It will be the first visit to Germany by an Indian Defence Minister in seven years. The last such trip was undertaken by former Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in 2019. Pistorius, for his part, visited India in June 2023, where he held extensive discussions with Singh on expanding bilateral defence ties.
India and Germany share a broad strategic partnership rooted in democratic values and a commitment to a rules-based international order. In recent years, defence cooperation has emerged as a key pillar of this relationship, driven by converging interests in maintaining stability in the Indo-Pacific and strengthening resilient supply chains in critical technologies.
The upcoming visit is expected to review ongoing initiatives and set the stage for deeper collaboration in high-technology defence manufacturing, an area that New Delhi views as essential to long-term military preparedness and strategic autonomy.
Team BharatShakti
