Prime Minister Anthony Albanese declares India 'top tier' security partner for Australia during aircraft carrier visit

Vanguard One · Mar 10, 2023

Anthony Albanese seated in the cockpit of an Indian light fighter jet, with air force officer standing beside plane. Taken Thursday 9th March, 2023. India. Retrieved from Twitter page @indiannavy. (Supplied: Indian Navy)© Provided by ABC News (AU)

Key points:

Anthony Albanese visited India's first domestically built aircraft carrier — the INS Vikrant — the first such visit by a foreign leader
Mr Albanese confirmed Australia will host the 2023 Operation Malabar naval exercises with the US, India and Japan
India will join Australia in the biennial Talisman Sabre war games exercises for the the first time

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has used a landmark visit to India's flagship carrier INS Vikrant to declare that India is a "top tier" defence partner and announce Indian forces will join the massive Talisman Sabre war games in Australia this year.

Mr Albanese also confirmed that Australia would this year host the Operation Malabar naval exercises with the United States, India and Japan as all four nations remain intent on boosting interoperability.

Australia and India have rapidly expanded their defence relationship since 2014, when the two nations held their first ever joint naval exercises.

But Australian officials say Mr Albanese's visit to India's first domestically built aircraft carrier — the first such visit by a foreign leader – is a powerful symbol of New Delhi's willingness to further entrench strategic ties with Canberra.

Mr Albanese climbed into the cockpit of an Indian light fighter jet on the deck of INS Vikrant before meeting with Indian naval personnel on deck.

In a brief speech he called India a "top-tier security partner" for Australia, telling the gathering that the Indian Ocean was "central to both countries' security and prosperity."

"There has never been a point in both of our countries' histories where we've had such a strong strategic alignment," the prime minister said.Mr Albanese also said there had "never been a busier or more productive time in our defence and security partnership" and that the two nations last year "conducted more exercises, operations and dialogues than ever before."

This year, that will include Talisman Sabre, which is held every two years off the coast of Queensland.

Thousands of personnel from multiple nations – including the US, Canada, Japan, New Zealand, South Korea and the United Kingdom – participated in the war games in 2021.

It's not yet clear how many Indian personnel will take part in 2023, but Australia has been pushing for India to participate since at least 2021, when then defence minister Peter Dutton pressed his counterpart to join.

Australia's hosting of Exercise Malabar this year also shows how far attitudes have shifted in New Delhi – for several years India resisted Australia's push to participate in the exercise at all, effectively restricting it to an observer role.

India intent on strengthening ties

Former Indian Navy Commodore and vice president of the Indian Maritime Foundation, Anil Jai Singh, told the ABC that India's decision to invite Mr Albanese to the Vikrant was "significant."

"The Australia India relationship over the last decade or so, has even surprised many in India, the speed at which the strategic partnership has developed over the last eight to 10 years," he said.

"It signifies a larger cooperation between India and Australia… in maritime and naval connectivity and cooperation, perhaps in export of technologies between our two countries, and co-development and co-production of military hardware.

"I think defence cooperation, particularly in the maritime domain… is a convergence that India and Australia will seek to build upon in the years to come."

But analysts also say while India is intent on strengthening ties with Western nations like Australia and the US, Russia remains a key supplier of weapons and military equipment.

INS Vikrant was built in India but is partly based on a Russian design.

When Mr Albanese visited the carrier – which is still being tested ahead of becoming fully operational by the end of this year – he walked past three Russian MiG fighter aircraft on board.

But Anil Jai Singh told the ABC that India was intent on building its own defence industry.

"The defence sector is considered key to promoting self reliance because we consider our dependence on defence imports as a major strategic vulnerability," he said.

"Therefore, Vikrant as the first indigenously built aircraft carrier is a great showpiece of our naval capability, technological and industrial skills and the ability to deliver on these large platforms within a specified time frame towards bolstering our naval capability in the Indo Pacific."