{"id":19767,"date":"2026-02-19T11:34:14","date_gmt":"2026-02-19T06:04:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theeducationoverview.in\/?p=19767"},"modified":"2026-02-19T11:34:25","modified_gmt":"2026-02-19T06:04:25","slug":"raksha-mantri-his-french-counterpart-co-chair-6th-annual-defence-dialogue-in-bengaluru","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theeducationoverview.in\/?p=19767","title":{"rendered":"Raksha Mantri &#038; his French counterpart co-chair 6th Annual Defence Dialogue in Bengaluru"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"text-center event-heading-background\">\n<h2 id=\"Titleh2\" style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"color: #3366ff;\"><strong>Raksha Mantri &amp; his French counterpart co-chair 6th Annual Defence Dialogue in Bengaluru<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"color: #3366ff;\"><strong><br \/>\nDefence cooperation agreement renewed for another 10 years<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"color: #3366ff;\"><strong>BEL &amp; SAFRAN ink MoU to manufacture Hammer missiles in India<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"color: #3366ff;\"><strong>Both nations announce reciprocal deployment of officers at Indian Army &amp; French Land Forces establishments<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"PrDateTime\" class=\"ReleaseDateSubHeaddateTime text-center pt20\" style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"color: #3366ff;\"><strong>Posted On: 17 FEB 2026 8:31PM by PIB Delhi<\/strong><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"pt20\" style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"color: #3366ff;\"><strong>\u200b\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Raksha Mantri Shri Rajnath Singh and Minister of the Armed Forces and Veterans Affairs of France Ms Catherine Vautrin co-chaired the 6<sup>th<\/sup>\u00a0India-France Annual Defence Dialogue in Bengaluru, Karnataka on February 17, 2026. The two Ministers discussed a range of bilateral security and defence issues including priority areas for co-development &amp; co-production of equipment. They emphasised on the need for a closer defence partnership and connecting the industries of both nations, especially in the field of niche technology.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"color: #3366ff;\"><strong><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/static.pib.gov.in\/WriteReadData\/userfiles\/image\/image001PWV2.jpg\" alt=\"A group of people sitting at a tableDescription automatically generated\" \/><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"color: #3366ff;\"><strong>\u200bThe two Ministers reaffirmed the commitment to enhance military-to-military cooperation as a key pillar of the Strategic Partnership. Raksha Mantri brought out that the recent India-EU Security &amp; Defence Partnership marks a significant step in deepening the collective engagement. Both Ministers agreed to leverage this framework, both bilaterally and in the wider European context for tangible outcomes that will strengthen regional stability, enhance joint capabilities, and reinforce the enduring Indo-French strategic alignment.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"color: #3366ff;\"><strong><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/static.pib.gov.in\/WriteReadData\/userfiles\/image\/image002QPO7.jpg\" \/><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"color: #3366ff;\"><strong>Both countries announced Reciprocal deployment Officers at Indian Army and French Land Forces establishments. The renewal of 10-year defence cooperation agreement was signed by the Defence Secretary from the Indian side and Deputy Director General for International Relations and Strategy from the French side.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"color: #3366ff;\"><strong>An MoU on Joint Venture was also signed for the manufacturing of Hammer missiles in India between by the CMD, Bharat Electronics Limited and Executive Vice President, Safran Electronics and Defence.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"color: #3366ff;\"><strong><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/static.pib.gov.in\/WriteReadData\/userfiles\/image\/image003U3M2.jpg\" alt=\"A person sitting at a table with a microphoneDescription automatically generated\" \/><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"color: #3366ff;\"><strong>Congratulating Ms Catherine Vautrin on taking over as the French Defence Minister and welcoming her to her maiden visit to India, Shri Rajnath Singh stated that Ms Vautrin\u2019s tenure comes at a critical moment for European and global security, and India deeply appreciates France\u2019s steadfast commitment to strategic autonomy and a robust European defence posture. The French Defence Minister appreciated the conversion of Exercise Shakti with the Army from biennial to an annual event.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"color: #3366ff;\"><strong><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/static.pib.gov.in\/WriteReadData\/userfiles\/image\/image004F0JD.jpg\" alt=\"A person sitting at a table with a microphoneDescription automatically generated\" \/><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"color: #3366ff;\"><strong>Raksha Mantri emphasised that India has been the \u2018First Responder\u2019 and \u2018Net Security Provider\u2019 for countries in the Indian Ocean Region and always extends assistance to them in the defence, security and maritime domains to augment their capabilities &amp; ward off any adversary.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"color: #3366ff;\"><strong>\u200bOn the issue of terrorism, Shri Rajnath Singh stated that Pakistan has a long history of nurturing, nourishing, and promoting cross-border terrorism to create disturbance and violence in India. This, he said, has created a serious threat to peace in the region.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"color: #3366ff;\"><strong>The Annual Defence Dialogue is a structured ministerial level bilateral meeting to review and guide defence and security cooperation. Prior to the meeting, the French Defence Minister was presented with the Guard of Honour at HAL airport upon her arrival.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Raksha Mantri &amp; his French counterpart co-chair 6th Annual Defence Dialogue in Bengaluru Defence cooperation agreement renewed for another 10 years BEL &amp; SAFRAN ink MoU to manufacture Hammer missiles in India Both nations announce reciprocal deployment of officers at Indian Army &amp; French Land Forces establishments Posted On: 17 FEB 2026 8:31PM by PIB &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":19768,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19767","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-education-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theeducationoverview.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19767","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theeducationoverview.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theeducationoverview.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theeducationoverview.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theeducationoverview.in\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=19767"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/theeducationoverview.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19767\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19770,"href":"https:\/\/theeducationoverview.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19767\/revisions\/19770"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theeducationoverview.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/19768"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theeducationoverview.in\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=19767"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theeducationoverview.in\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=19767"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theeducationoverview.in\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=19767"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}