India, Japan agree to deepen Maritime Security Cooperation following bilateral meeting
India and Japan signed a Memorandum of Arrangement on Maritime Security Cooperation following a bilateral defence meeting
The Memorandum establishes a framework for deepening cooperation between the Indian Navy and the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force
Key areas covered include Maritime Domain Awareness (MDA) information sharing, Search and Rescue (SAR), and Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR)
Both sides also agreed to accelerate scheduling of the next India-Japan "2+2" Foreign and Defence Ministerial Dialogue
India-Japan Special Strategic and Global Partnership (2014)
India and Japan elevated their bilateral relationship to a "Special Strategic and Global Partnership" in 2014. The "Special" designation reflects the absence of any bilateral territorial or historical disputes and a high degree of mutual trust, while "Strategic and Global" signals cooperation spanning defence, civil nuclear energy, connectivity, and Indo-Pacific maritime security, going beyond a purely economic relationship. The new maritime security Memorandum is an incremental institutional layer built on this 2014 framework.
Key Details
- Partnership upgraded to "Special Strategic and Global Partnership": 2014
- Institutional architecture includes annual summit-level meetings and a "2+2" Foreign and Defence Ministerial Dialogue, first held in 2019
- India-Japan defence cooperation also includes the Acquisition and Cross-Servicing Agreement (ACSA), signed 9 September 2020, enabling reciprocal provision of supplies and services between the two militaries
- Distinguish from India's "Comprehensive Strategic Global Partnerships" with other countries (e.g., Russia) — the specific "Special" tag is unique to the Japan relationship
The new Maritime Security Memorandum operationalises the broad strategic partnership into a concrete naval-to-naval cooperation framework, following the pattern set by the 2020 ACSA agreement.
Maritime Domain Awareness (MDA) and India's Indo-Pacific security architecture
Maritime Domain Awareness refers to the effective understanding of all activity in the maritime domain that could affect security, safety, the economy, or the environment — achieved through surveillance, information sharing, and coordination among partner navies. India operates the Information Fusion Centre – Indian Ocean Region (IFC-IOR), established in 2018 at Gurugram, as a regional hub for maritime data sharing with partner countries' liaison officers, including Japan.
Key Details
- IFC-IOR established: December 2018, hosted by the Indian Navy at Gurugram
- India-Japan cooperation on MDA supplements existing Quad-level Indo-Pacific Partnership for Maritime Domain Awareness (IPMDA), launched at the 2022 Quad Summit in Tokyo
- Distinguish bilateral MDA sharing (India-Japan) from the multilateral Quad IPMDA initiative — both operate in parallel
- India's principal navy-to-navy bilateral maritime exercises include Malabar (with the US, Japan, and Australia) and JIMEX (bilateral with Japan, since 2012)
The new Memorandum formalises bilateral MDA information-sharing between India and Japan, complementing (not replacing) the broader Quad-level IPMDA mechanism both countries also participate in.
Search and Rescue (SAR) and HADR cooperation frameworks
Search and Rescue and Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief are standard "non-traditional security" cooperation domains that navies use to build interoperability without the political sensitivity of combat-oriented agreements. India has bilateral or multilateral SAR/HADR frameworks with several Indo-Pacific partners and has positioned itself as a "first responder" and net security provider in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR), including during disaster relief operations abroad.
Key Details
- India's IOR "first responder" doctrine was articulated under the SAGAR (Security and Growth for All in the Region) framework, announced in 2015
- HADR cooperation with Japan supplements existing India-Japan exercises such as Dharma Guardian (Army) and Shinyuu Maitri (Air Force)
- India is a signatory to international SAR conventions including the International Convention on Maritime Search and Rescue (SAR Convention), 1979
The Memorandum's SAR/HADR component extends India's SAGAR doctrine of regional maritime security cooperation into a formal bilateral instrument with Japan, alongside the existing MDA and exercise-based cooperation.
- India-Japan Special Strategic and Global Partnership established: 2014
- India-Japan "2+2" Ministerial Dialogue format began: 2019
- India-Japan ACSA (logistics-sharing agreement) signed: 9 September 2020
- IFC-IOR (India's regional maritime information-sharing hub) established: December 2018, Gurugram
- Quad's Indo-Pacific Partnership for Maritime Domain Awareness (IPMDA) launched: 2022 Tokyo Summit
- India's SAGAR doctrine for Indian Ocean maritime engagement announced: 2015