India, France to set up group to study the war
NEW DELHI: Strategic allies India and France have decided to set up a joint working group on the operational, military logistics, and political lessons to be learnt from the ongoing war in Ukraine. The working group will have members drawn from the national security setup and the foreign ministries of both countries, according to people aware of the matter.
French defence minister Sebastien Lecornu met defence minister Rajnath Singh, external affairs minister S Jaishankar, and national security adviser Ajit Doval on November 28 to deepen the seabed-to-space cooperation between two countries with focus on joint design, development, and manufacturing of hardware platforms in India under the rubric of the “Aatmanirbhar Bharat” (Selfreliant India) initiative.
India and France have also decided to synergise and cooperate in the field of cybersecurity and space in terms of technology-sharing and the exchange of futuristic implementable ideas. The India-France alliance, guided by
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and French President Emmanuel Macron, is now talking in terms of joint research and development of aircraft engines, fighter planes, long-range submarines, and hardware key to winning future wars. At the meeting with NSA Doval, it was decided that both sides would jointly identify the hardware projects on a priority basis and then co-develop them under “Aatmanirbhar Bharat”. Specific timelines will be set for each design, development and manufacturing of the military products to cut through the bureaucratic red tape within Indian military-civilian babudom, people aware of the matter said. The products include platforms for subsurface awareness, and maritime time awareness on the surface and in the skies, they added.
With Indian and France broadly on the same page on way forward to end the Ukraine war, expert groups from the two countries will try and draw out lessons from the war, which is currently in winter slumber and is set to erupt again after the snow gets hardened in Ukraine, giving both sides time to regroup and procure supplies.
The war is turning out to be a quagmire for Russian troops due to low morale, poor logistics supply lines, paucity of spares, and the inability to dominate the airspace over Ukraine. Ukraine’s war effort, backed by the US, is in a much better shape with American Stinger and Javelin missiles wreaking havoc on the Russian air force and ground armour. The use of long-range artillery and rockets is also making life miserable for the Russian frontline in the Luhansk-Donbas region. The India-France dialogue will deepen further when Emmanuel Bonne, diplomatic adviser to President Macron, comes to India for the strategic dialogue with NSA Doval in January 2023.