India and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia are moving towards a deeper cooperation in defence and aerospace technologies. India – Kingdom of Saudi Arabia defence cooperation remains one of the key pillars of bilateral relations.
Saudi Arabia’s defence budget is SR171 billion ($46 billion) this year, with a 10% decrease from the 2021, but still it is one of the top ten military spenders in the world. On the other hand, for the first three quarters of 2021, India is Saudi Arabia’s second-largest trading partner, with some 745 Indian companies registered as joint ventures or 100 percent owned entities in the Kingdom as of October 2021.
A cornerstone of Indo – Saudi Arabia defence cooperation is the Memorandum of Understanding on Defence Cooperation, which was signed by King Salman, when he was crown prince and defence minister. This MoU led to numerous positive initiatives between the two countries.
Today both India and Saudi Arabia, as major regional players who share common security concerns about the region, are striving to be defence partners.
The historic visit of Gen. Manoj Mukund Naravane, the chief of Indian Army, in December 2020 to Saudi Arabia, was the first time that an Indian Army Chief had visited Saudi Arabia. The telephonic conversations between the Army Chiefs of the two countries in February and December 2021 build on relations further.
In a historic and landmark visit, the Commander of the Royal Saudi Land Forces, Lieutenant General Fahd Bin Abdullah Mohammed Al-Mutair, arrived in India on 14 February 2022. This is the first ever visit by a serving Royal Saudi Land Forces Commander to India and marked a deepening bilateral defence cooperation between the two countries. The aim of the visit was to bolster bilateral defence cooperation between the two countries. Lieutenant General Fahd Bin Abdullah Mohammed Al-Mutair was accorded a Ceremonial Guard of Honour.
The relationship between India and Saudi Arabia has grown owing to common interests in economic prosperity, eliminating the scourge of terrorism and mitigating the effects of climate change. Defence diplomacy forms one of the major tenets of the overall relationship.
In September 2021, India’s naval chief had a meeting with the commander of Royal Saudi Naval Forces on the sidelines of the International Seapower Symposium at the US Naval War College.
And on Nov. 19 last year, on the sidelines of Manama Dialogue, Khaled bin Hussein Al-Biyari, Saudi Arabia’s assistant minister of defence for executive affairs, met Air Marshal B.R. Krishna, the chief of integrated defence staff to the chairman of the Chiefs of Staff Committee of the Indian Armed Forces.
Goodwill visits by Indian ships have been a major component of defence cooperation between the two nations, with 16 Indian Navy and Coast Guard vessels entering Saudi ports since 2015.
In 2021, three Indian ships visited the Kingdom, and the first bilateral naval exercise, Al-Mohed Al-Hindi, was conducted in August along the eastern coast at Jubail.
The commander of the Indian Navy’s Western Fleet was also onboard INS Kochi, the Indian-built destroyer that participated in the week-long exercise. The highlights of the exercise included high-level interactions involving Eastern Fleet officers, the governor of the Eastern Province and various drills and manoeuvres at sea with the Royal Saudi Naval Forces.
As part of the convergence of the government of India’s Make in India initiative and Saudi Vision 2030, the two countries are moving towards introduction of Indian defence industries to Saudi Arabia. A memorandums of understanding (MoU) for collaboration in military acquisitions, industries, research, development and technology was signed between the Kingdom’s General Authority of Military Industries and the Indian Ministry of Defense’s Department of Defense Production was signed during the visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Saudi Arabia on Oct. 29, 2019.
Now, the World Defense Show is scheduled to take place in Riyadh in the first week of March this year. The event will take place from 6-9 March in Riyadh and become a biennial event thereafter. It is likely to include the participation of a number of Indian public and private industries.
India too would be holding a Defence Expo 2022 in March and a number of military and business delegations from Saudi Arabia are expected to attend.
At the same time, and for the first time, a Saudi Arabia based company Power For Defence Technologies Co (PDTC) has inked an agreement with DPSU Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL). The company has tied up seeking deployment and transfer of the cutting edge technological solutions which are critical for the Aerospace, Defence and Security areas.
Under this agreement the two companies will together get cutting edge technologies to Saudi Arabia’s Defence Ecosystem.
According to Sheikh Mohammed Mustfa-Zaini Al-Shaibi, the founder of the company “The partnership with BEL which is at the forefront of technology in India will enable us to bring the critical technologies for defence and civilian applications to KSA.”
BEL offers technology products in several areas like Advanced Threat Detection suites with Radar, Coastal Radar System, Drone protection System and much more.
It is expected that Indo-Saudi defence cooperation will enhance and grow until its full potential is realised under the Strategic Partnership Council.
