On Thursday, the defence industries of India and Belgium signed several agreements and partnerships, along with a Letter of Intent between their respective Ministries of Defence.
The initiative aims to build defence-industrial collaborations and create a framework for routine exchanges, staff-level discussions, education and training programmes, and joint research activities.
The industrial arrangements are as follows: Thales Belgium and Thales India Pvt Ltd have joined forces with Kalyani Strategic Systems, the defence subsidiary of Bharat Forge, to assemble 70 mm rockets in India, aiming to achieve complete domestic production by next year.
Kalyani Strategic Systems has also partnered with another Belgian firm, FN Herstal, to explore establishing a joint facility for small arms, integrated weapon systems, and counter-drone technology.
L&T has also finalized agreements with multiple Belgian companies to secure the products and technologies sought by the Indian Navy and Indian Army.
It is working with Exail Belgium on mine countermeasure vessels and autonomous naval mine-hunting systems. In addition, L&T and John Cockerill Defense will collaborate on armoured vehicle technologies, including projects related to India’s Zorawar Light Tank programme.
Notably, as early as March of last year, John Cockerill revealed a joint venture with Indian company Electro Pneumatics and Hydraulics Ltd to manufacture turrets for the Zorawars.
State-owned BEL and Octave are deepening their collaboration on air-defence visualisation technologies for platforms such as Akash Teer, while ABC Belgium and Kirloskar have agreed to explore partnership opportunities in India’s homegrown 6 MW marine diesel engine initiative.
The remaining partnerships were as follows: Tembo Classic Engineering Pvt Ltd (India) with Lachaussée SA (Belgium); India Optel Ltd (India) with OIP (Belgium); Krishna Industries Pvt Ltd (India) with Pitagone (Belgium); and DGVK Enterprises Private Limited (India) with Sol1 BV (Belgium).
A group of 15 Belgian defense firms is accompanying Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever during his official visit to India.
The agreements and partnerships were signed after discussions between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Belgium’s Bart De Wever. De Wever is joined by Defence and Foreign Trade Minister Theo Francken, who held a bilateral meeting with his Indian counterpart, Rajnath Singh.
The two leaders also addressed matters concerning regional peace and security and recognized the importance of cooperating on maritime security in the Indo-Pacific. They reaffirmed that the India-Belgium partnership is founded on shared values, mutual trust, and respect, the defence ministry stated.
Previously, the two prime ministers expressed satisfaction with the expanding defence-industrial cooperation between India and Belgium, noting that these ties were further reinforced during the Belgian Economic Mission to India in March 2025, as per the joint statement.
Acknowledging the scope for deeper collaboration in defence manufacturing, technology, innovation, co-development and co-production, both leaders welcomed the conclusion of several agreements and partnerships between Belgian and Indian defence companies and urged industries on both sides to maintain their engagement.
