India and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) reaffirmed their commitment to strengthening bilateral defence cooperation during the 13th India-UAE Joint Defence Cooperation Committee (JDCC) meeting, held at the Secretary level for the first time, in New Delhi on July 30, 2025.
The meeting was co-chaired by Defence Secretary Shri Rajesh Kumar Singh and UAE’s Under Secretary of Defense, Lt General Ibrahim Nasser M. Al Alawi, who is leading a high-level defence delegation on a two-day official visit to India.
Both sides agreed to elevate defence ties to match the growing momentum in areas such as trade, investment, and people to people relations. The two sides agreed to enhance military training cooperation and discussed their respective training requirements.
India offered to provide customised training courses tailored to the UAE’s needs. They also agreed to cooperate on maritime security through sharing of information. In a bid to explore new avenues of defence collaboration, both countries held discussions on training cooperation, defence industrial partnerships, and Service-to-Service engagements.
They agreed to pursue joint manufacturing initiatives, including models similar to the collaboration between ICOMM (India) and CARACAL (UAE) for small arms production. The potential for co-developing next generation defence technologies in emerging areas such as Artificial Intelligence was also discussed, alongside opportunities in shipbuilding including refits and upgrades, and maintenance of common platforms.
A Memorandum of Understanding was signed between the Indian Coast Guard and the UAE National Guard to establish a framework for enhanced cooperation in search and rescue operations, pollution response, anti-piracy efforts, and related maritime security domains.
In the run-up to the JDCC, India and UAE also held the 4th Army-to-Army, 9th Navy-to-Navy, and inaugural Air-to-Air Staff Talks from July 28-29, 2025. These deliberations focused on enhancing military exercises, training, and Subject Matter Expert Exchange.
The UAE delegation is scheduled to call on the Raksha Rajya Mantri Shri Sanjay Seth on July 31, 2025, and will participate in the 2nd India-UAE Defence Industry Partnership Forum, co-inaugurated by the UAE Under Secretary and India’s Secretary (Defence Production) Shri Sanjeev Kumar.
India and UAE share a robust and growing defence relationship, underpinned by the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership established during the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi’s landmark visit to the UAE in 2015. India’s upcoming participation in the Dubai Air Show in November 2025 is set to further reinforce this momentum.