India and Belgium sign defence agreements to boost industrial and military ties
India and Belgium signed a series of defence agreements covering joint production and technology areas including rockets, naval vessels, mine-countermeasure systems and armoured-platform technology
The agreements were concluded during a Belgian prime ministerial visit to India, alongside a delegation of Belgian defence companies
A Letter of Intent on defence cooperation was signed, and India announced the appointment of a resident defence attaché in Brussels
Specific industrial tie-ups include Indian and Belgian firms partnering on local assembly of 70mm rockets and on autonomous systems for mine-countermeasure vessels
The pacts form part of a wider bilateral push covering trade, critical minerals and clean energy, including the launch of an India-Belgium Investment Fast-Track Mechanism
Defence Acquisition Procedure (DAP) 2020 and Indigenisation Categories
The DAP 2020 governs how India's Ministry of Defence procures equipment from its capital budget, prioritising categories that maximise indigenous design, development and manufacture. It replaced the earlier Defence Procurement Procedure (DPP 2016) and is explicitly aligned with the Atmanirbhar Bharat (self-reliant India) initiative.
Key Details
- Acquisition categories are prioritised in descending order, with "Buy (Indian – Indigenously Designed, Developed and Manufactured/IDDM)" at the top, followed by categories such as Buy (Indian), Buy and Make (Indian), Buy and Make, and Buy (Global)
- Categories like Buy (Indian-IDDM) are reserved exclusively for Indian vendors, with FDI above 49% not permitted in such contracts
- The Ministry of Defence has notified successive "positive indigenisation lists" of platforms/weapons banned for import, forcing domestic or joint-production routes
- As of recent reporting, roughly three-fourths of India's capital defence procurement budget is being directed to domestic sources
Joint-production tie-ups such as the India-Belgium rocket assembly and mine-countermeasure vessel projects are structured to fit within India's indigenisation-first procurement categories (such as Buy and Make/joint production), supporting domestic manufacture rather than straight imports.
Defence Corridors, iDEX and Make in India in Defence
India has built dedicated domestic ecosystems to attract exactly this kind of foreign industrial collaboration: two Defence Industrial Corridors (Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu) and the Innovations for Defence Excellence (iDEX) scheme for startups, alongside a liberalised FDI regime for defence manufacturing.
Key Details
- The UP and Tamil Nadu Defence Industrial Corridors were announced in 2018 to cluster defence manufacturing investment around identified nodes in each state
- FDI in defence manufacturing is permitted up to 74% under the automatic route and up to 100% with government approval, subject to conditions, since a 2020 policy liberalisation
- iDEX, launched in 2018 under the Department of Defence Production, funds and mentors startups/MSMEs developing defence and aerospace technologies
- India's defence exports have grown sharply over the past decade, with the government setting a long-term production and export target (Atmanirbhar Bharat roadmap targets)
Foreign original equipment manufacturers such as Belgium's Thales and Exail partnering with Indian firms (Kalyani Strategic Systems, Larsen & Toubro) for local assembly of rockets and mine-countermeasure systems is the kind of technology-transfer/joint-venture activity these corridor and FDI policies were designed to attract.
India's Strategic Partnership Model and Naval/Land Platform Technology
Beyond DAP's standard categories, India uses a separate Strategic Partnership (SP) Model to select Indian private-sector "strategic partners" who tie up with foreign original equipment manufacturers to co-produce major platforms domestically, transferring critical technology in exchange for guaranteed order volumes.
Key Details
- The Strategic Partnership Model was notified as part of DPP 2016 and continued under DAP 2020, initially covering submarines, single-engine fighters, helicopters and armoured vehicles/main battle tanks
- Mine-countermeasure vessels (MCMVs) are a long-standing Indian Navy capability gap; India's mine-countermeasure fleet has been depleted since the retirement of older Soviet-origin vessels, making foreign collaboration on MCMV technology significant
- Armoured-platform technology transfer (relevant to India's tank and infantry combat vehicle programmes) falls under sensitive, often SP-model-governed cooperation given its dual military-security significance
- Belgium is a NATO and EU member state, making this a rare instance of an EU/NATO country deepening defence-industrial (not just arms-purchase) cooperation with India
The India-Belgium agreements on vessels and armoured-platform technology intersect with India's long-pending Navy mine-countermeasure vessel requirement and broader efforts to diversify defence-technology partners beyond traditional suppliers like Russia and France.
- DAP 2020 (Defence Acquisition Procedure) governs capital defence procurement; top-priority category is Buy (Indian-IDDM), reserved for Indian vendors with FDI capped below 49%
- FDI in defence manufacturing: up to 74% via automatic route, up to 100% with government approval (since 2020 liberalisation)
- Two Defence Industrial Corridors exist in India: Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu (announced 2018)
- iDEX (Innovations for Defence Excellence), launched 2018, supports startups/MSMEs in defence innovation
- Roughly 75% of India's capital defence procurement budget is currently directed to domestic sources
- The India-Belgium defence pacts span rockets, ammunition, drones, mine-countermeasure systems, tank/armoured-vehicle turrets, sensors and marine engines