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India-Japan Maritime Security Pact

Kumari Sonali

India-Japan Maritime Security Pact:

India and Japan signed a Memorandum of Arrangement (MoA) on Maritime Security Cooperation during bilateral talks between their Defence Ministers in New Delhi, aimed at deepening defence and maritime security cooperation.

  • The agreement provides a framework for closer cooperation between the Indian Navy and the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF), including Maritime Domain Awareness (MDA), Search and Rescue (SAR), and Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR).
  • Both sides agreed to strengthen protection of Sea Lines of Communication (SLOCs) through reciprocal naval visits, joint exercises, personnel and expert exchanges, port access, logistics support, and maintenance and repair facilities.
  • India and Japan will explore joint development in naval shipbuilding and design, combining Japan’s technological expertise with India’s production capabilities, while also advancing reciprocal ship-repair arrangements and greater use of Indian shipyards under Make in India.
  • The two countries will expand exercises such as Dharma Guardian and JAIMEX, while the planned Veer Guardian 26 will see Japanese fighter aircraft participate in an air exercise in India for the first time.
  • They also plan more complex, short-notice and unmanned-system-enabled drills.
  • India’s DRDO and Japan’s Acquisition, Technology & Logistics Agency (ATLA) will deepen cooperation in advanced defence technologies, while a Defence Industry Forum will promote industrial collaboration.
  • The shipborne UNICORN integrated communications antenna system was identified as a key symbol of bilateral defence-equipment cooperation and is being pursued as the first defence equipment transfer project between India and Japan.
  • Both sides agreed to promote exchanges between their Special Operations Forces and explore cooperation with India’s integrated theatre commands after their establishment.
  • India and Japan reaffirmed support for a free and open Indo-Pacific, opposed unilateral actions that threaten freedom of navigation or seek to alter the status quo by force, and agreed to deepen cooperation with third countries through exercises and initiatives such as the Indo-Pacific Logistics Network.
  • A Director-General/Joint Secretary-level Working Group will coordinate cooperation across operational, intelligence, equipment, technology and industrial domains, while both sides will accelerate preparations for the fourth India-Japan 2+2 Foreign and Defence Ministerial Dialogue in Tokyo.